GFA Anthology
by AngelPines
Summary: Elaine was used to the strange and unusual. She was used to the mysteries and horrors of Gravity Falls, and what accompanied her odd partnership with one Bill Cipher. This, however... wasn't what she had in mind when she woke up from being dragged across the multiverse. A collection of different 'what if' scenarios, unused scenes, and AUs from Gravity's Fallen Angel.
1. Where My Demons Hide Part 1

**Disclaimer: Yo! Hey! You, reader! HI!**

 **Angel here! So, like I last said in that author's note at the end of GFA, the sequel is being really pushed out. With some editing (that might continue on into the actual sequel) of the first story, my Bendy story picking up speed with chapter 4's release, my Danganronpa story-you get it. I'm a busy person.**

 **Not too mention normal life stuff too. So while I'm running around like mad with tire machines and trying to wrap up a murder game with a sadistic teddy bear, I figured this was a good way to continue on with the spirit of Gravity's Fallen Angel. Behold: a collection of different ideas, one shots, and other junk with our favorite teen, triangle, and pairs of twins.**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

Floating. That's what I felt like. Floating, and... warmth. N-no, not warmth. It was... a middle ground. Warm, and cold, all at the same time. I blinked away the heaviness on my eyelids, lifting a surprisingly sore hand to my face and rubbed my eyes tiredly, pushing my glasses around. It felt as if my entire body, my entire being itself, was on fire. Burning, with energy that wasn't my own, and leaking out from inside me. Torching, and blazing away at my skin. _Wh... why am I so... in pai-?_

I was... not in my room. Or, better to be technical, I was not in a real place. If I had to call it, I would say a living nightmare would be the best term. A swirling sea of bright colors churned around me, with lightning crackling around and striking the meteors that drifted by. Gravity was... lacking. In fact, there was nothing holding me there in place. I myself was floating in the air, the oxygen rich with... the smell of burnt hair? _The heck...?_ At least I understood that weightlessness sensation when I started coming to now.

"This is... this is just a bad dream," I mumbled. My outfit, a pair of green shorts and a dark blue tank top bobbed slightly where the fabric didn't cling to my skin, and my long brown hair flew up over my head. "Y-yeah. I'm just dreaming. Wake up, Elaine. Wake up. Wake up." I pinched my arm, but all I got was another ache to my already damaged bo-wait, what!?

My arms... th-they were burnt. Raw. Strips of skin, on them, and my legs, showed possible second degree burns. Scratches also littered them, with several large purple bruises to boot. My clothes were stained in red, and to my relief, it appeared as though my bleeding had ceased at the moment. _Why the heck am I looking like this? Wh-why am I looking like I just came through a war zone!?_ I shook my head, trying to rid myself of worst case scenarios, and looked around again.

There was nothing else around for miles, and I rolled back and forth repeatedly while trying to maintain a normal position. I wasn't flipping, but I was very close to it. My legs would shoot out from underneath me, and I would swing my arms around rapidly like a madman to correct myself.

I was known for having many weird, bizarre, and twisted dreams. Losing my teeth was a common theme, and having them pulled out to reveal misshapen and bloody sets instead. Then there was the glorious one where the entire county caught fire, and I was in a desperate and tearful rush to escape before I too caught ablaze. This, though... there was no way my imagination could have created, have spurned... such a nightmare. And the pain. The pain was far too real to be considered lucid dreaming.

Small, wispy trails of crimson floated up from a few still bleeding gouges on my arms, having been stretched during my panic to stay upright. "O-okay... j-just focus, Elaine. Think. You're... injured, bloodied, and somehow able to breathe in a foaming mass of horror." It could have been worse, I suppose. "At least... at least I'm alone in he-"

A roar. A roar that shook the asteroids around me, and even rattled my floating form and rocking through my very being, came from off in the distance. It was a melody of terrible sounds. A demonic choir, a mixture of howling, combined with the sound of sharpened claws raking against a chalkboard. I slapped my hands to my ears, shrieking in pain. _It hurts! My ears are bleeding!_ I hoped they weren't. I already lost enough blood.

N-now that I thought about it... I was a little lightheaded. _I... I need somewhere to rest. Pronto._ If I didn't hurry, there was a chance I... I could... no. None of that. I had to focus, and hurry.

The howling ceased, and I breathed a small sigh of relief. Lowering my hands, and finding them free of any fresh blood, I began to move my hands forward. I figured mimicking a swimming motion would be the best choice. Doing an awkward breast stroke, I moved forward. Gently, I swung my legs and paddled through the air. Was it air? I could breathe, and it didn't seem dangerous. Though, there didn't seem to be any form of vegetation in this place.

Travelling was lonely, and I began to quietly hum to myself in attempt to occupy myself and avoid fearing for whatever I had previously heard. "It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all," I sang. "It's a small world after all. It's a small, small world." The air seemed... different now, then when I first woke up. Heavier, and... sour. There was a feeling of something like death in the air, and I drifted to a halt.

I couldn't run. All I could do was float, and trying to move any faster would create more blood loss. _You're fine, Elaine. You're fine. You're fine. You're... you're..._ "dead." The word left my lips in a whisper, as my hazel eyes moved up. High, high up. "I'm... dead."

Nightmare fuel. This, was absolute and complete nightmare fuel.

A massive monster made of cleaned raw muscle, the stuff that was supposed to be ****under**** your skin, was twisting and curling around the air in the kaleidoscope of confusion I awoke in. Its entire body radiated a glowing yellow aura, and it got bigger and bigger towards the front like a snake. It reminded me partially of No-Face from Spirited Away. But much, **much** more horrifying. The monster's tail-end connected to something behind it I couldn't see from my angle. Inky black arms branched off its body, supporting itself on other meteors due to its sheer size. Shiny, slimy arms, like tentacles. At the front though… enormous, jagged yellow fangs the size of a full grown man, lined where its mouth might've been, if it had one. It didn't seem to have any defined features. It was just a mash of different muscles shoved together without reason and order. I counted at least two long slippery black tongues wagging around it on either side of its face,, and I almost felt my heart jump out of my throat.

Its eye… it was like it was looking through my soul, even if I was out of the way. It was at least as big as a truck, maybe even bigger. Black veins ran out of the eye, and back into the muscle around it. A shining slit yellow pupil, surrounded by a sea of empty black.

The eye maneuvered around, the pupil not bound by normal laws and observing everything around it. Until finally... it locked onto me.

"... OH, CRUD!" I screamed, as the monster began to use the meteors around us to slither towards me, shoving them aside with such force they were sent flying behind them. Growls erupted from its maw, and I paddled as fast as I could, slipping around the space rocks for dear life. _Where could I go? Where_ _could I go? Where could I go!?_ My mind repeated the question like a broken record, until-"there!"

A meteor, with a crater that was much deeper than what would consider normal. It-no. Not a crater. A cave. An escape. Breathing deeply, I slipped around the meteor, and doubled back, throwing myself inside just as the monster caught up to me. Once I was far enough in, gravity chose to kick back in. Hitting the dirt and dust in a thump, I scrambled to hide behind a boulder.

My filthy hands slapped over my mouth and nose, smothering my pants in an attempt to hide myself. Peering around a corner nearest to the cavern's wall, I watched as the giant glowing eye peered inside. The slit pupil rolled around, examining every nook, every cranny for me, but when it saw nothing, the beast backed away with an annoyed snort. I watched it crawl away, but not before I caught sight of something... odd. Something that didn't really make much sense.

There was a top hat floating directly above its head.

"The heck... was that?" My voice finally found itself, and I began to crawl back further into the tunnel. The rocks dug into my palms and knees, and while I winced through the pain and knowing how infected these injuries would get, I was more centered on what I just went through. There I was, trapped in a world-no. This wasn't a world. This was a different dimension entirely. "Where... G-Gail... where are you? Wh-where am I...?"

Shuffling. I whipped around, throwing my arms behind me to keep myself low to the ground as a light suddenly ignited a few feet from me as the ground dipped a little. Faces of fear, concern, and anger were cast in the warm glow, and shadows were thrown around us. Their clothing was tattered, and badly stitched up. But... but I did notice one highly important fact. N-no one was human. None of them. But... but it appeared that, just like me... we were all victims in this game. This game of cat and mouse, brought upon by that monster. That... **demon**.

My breathing became shallow, and the room began to spin as my head slumped to the cold dirt. Their eyes widened as they took in my state, and I could only pray now that they would do something to spare my life, instead of cutting it short. "H... h-help... me..." darkness overtook my vision, and with that, I was lost to the outside world once again.

* * *

 **Well, that was the first chapter.** **Size will remain small, as it's a general idea to pass the time while I focus on every other story and rewriting. Updates should be one-two weeks, I'm guessing.**

 **Also, for the really dedicated people who have parts of GFA memorized, I took Bill's description from that chapter and edited it for this moment. Sort of hard to really describe it better than I already did.**

 **As you can tell, the idea we have first is Elaine winding up in the Nightmare Realm instead of Gravity Falls.** **I have eight different ideas created for this story in general, and there might be scenes that never made it to GFA thrown in as well. There's a lot of potential for this, and I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **I** **n some cases, I'll let you know if an event is actually canon to the story or not. After all, I'll be making an AU of an AU.**

 **U** **ntil next time!**

 **Angel**


	2. An Encounter with a Succubus

**Disclaimer: Alright, I'm back. Had to find a time to write up the next chapter while working around everything else, but here it is! Here's the next alternate take, or... whatever you wish to call it. Frankly, I like to call this what Pyronica thought of Elaine over the summer.**

 **StoriesUnleashed: I'm not a fan of Monster Falls, sorry. It's a concept I'm not really interested in. The dream demon idea won't happen, but it's close to what I have in mind for the first AU where she ends up in the Nightmare Realm.**

 **RainbowCelin: He kills his victims by ripping them to shreds with his teeth, eating them in bloody ribbons.**

 **Cynder Terror of Skies: I will. I have a life outside of this site, and I need time to wind down and do my job.**

 **Hourglass Cipher: Out of all of my ideas that will be put in here, that one is the one I'm most excited about.**

 **QueenKara671: Thanks! Haven't seen a review from you in a while.**

 **Guest: Yep! There's going to be a lot I'll be doing in this anthology thing while the original story is being worked on.**

 **This takes place mostly around Elaine's time in the Fearamid. So if anyone has already read what that was about... be prepared for some sensitive material.**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

As a succubus, she was used to the odd stares from the humans she had stumbled across in her travels. Either they were bothered by her appearance, or enjoyed it a little too much. Not like she ever cared that much about it. It just made her job all the more easier. Hey, she was a demon! Her basic instinct was to prey on victims through lustful advances, and then drain them of their life. _How delicious!_ She had thought with a purr. She had no shame in how she looked, and never saw the need to do something about it.

First, she had met Bill Cipher.

The triangle was the first out of all of them to appear in the Nightmare Realm, as he had named it. It was an accurate calling. The colors that always changed, that odd burning smell of hair, and the mishmash of innocent creatures that were sucked there through wormholes, or the beings like herself, Keyhole, and chaos god himself. Monsters that were sentenced there because they were too dangerous. Creating destruction wherever they went, slaughtering millions, and destroying dimensions.

At least... one of them had done that last one. Even if he didn't declare it, the few closest to Bill had gotten the hint that his past wasn't one to be talked about, especially in front of him. No one openly discussed what they've done to get there, unless they were so drunk the secrets just spilled out. Being the only girl in the crew, and one of the more intelligent beasts of the Henchmaniacs-his affectionate nickname for them all-she was the closest to Bill. She would give him advice when he needed it, and offer a different opinion if he was stuck.

Which wasn't often. Bill Cipher rarely was troubled. Then... then he met her. The anomaly he detected that came soaring through the multiverse and crash land in a nearby dimension.

Angel.

Angel was the symbol name given to her, once Bill had saw her wearing that necklace after their second meeting. It was a suitable name. While she had quite a tongue on her, and gave people around her plenty of attitude, she was very quick to comfort those around her. She was gentle when she needed to be, and feisty the next. For the first time in a while, not since that human with the six fingers had gotten his interest, the boss started spending more and more time in that one human infested dimension. Sure, there were so many of them in the multiverse, but something about that one always drew Bill there. Probably because out of a lot of them, that one was much more in tune with the paranormal and supernatural. The bridge between their world and the one she ended up in was so very thin, and was easier to access. It wouldn't take much to shatter it altogether, and let the weirdness leak in and overtake the dimension.

Using one of the many weirdness bubbles floating about, she had taken to watching their interactions, and found herself intrigued. True, there was that hostility that any sane human would exhibit to the dream demon, but there something... new. The human was showing the same amount of wit that the old human had done, but actually seemed... interested in what Bill could do. What he was, and was willing to play the game he started with her. There was laughter, and jokes, and even though his sadistic nature was still there and ready to lash out, she never ran.

She stayed.

* * *

When she first met the fleshbag, Pyronica was amused. Greatly.

She had blushed furiously when they first met at the bar, giving the teen a vague warning about the drink before she choked on the cosmic sand. Not wearing clothes did embarrass Angel, but the girl had shakily shrugged it off, and went about what she did best. She shrugged off the weirdness, and carried on a conversation with her. Angel was an odd one, she was. Pyronica had even confessed to her that Cipher didn't take an interest in many humans; she had responded that despite his personality flaws, he had been a great... friend.

Angel considered Bill Cipher a friend.

Of course, she could see right through that. Pyronica had picked up on something much more between them ever since they first started seeing each other more. Since he tracked her down in the forest, and admitted there was something different about her.

So, what made sense after that was taking several demons to the side and starting a betting pool on who made the first move. They were adorable, those two. They really were.

Still, those few chats she personally had with Angel...

Pyronica was fascinated with her, and for what she stood for. Angel was a light, bringing something new and amazing to their dark world. After millenniums of the same old routine, with a small change now and then, this was something she had never seen before. So she kept watching. She celebrated when Angel was unofficially made their queen, and rejoiced like mad when the portal was created to take them to her world.

She thought Angel would just be as happy as she was. So then, why was she yelling as Bill, screaming and defending the young boy who tried to attack Bill? Why was she turning on them? And, not even 24 hours after, when she ran into her again... she was filled with emotions she hadn't felt in such a long time. Sadness, and pity, and... rage. Anger towards the one she thought she could trust with her life.

How dare their leader commit such an act on their friend! Angel had fallen so much, and was now terrified of them. When she brought her to her room before Bill could intervene, the girl had broken down in tears as she helped bandage her arms. There was so much blood, and... saliva. Bite and claw marks, and dark circles around her eyes. Pyronica had draped a pink sparkling shawl she had stored in a drawer over the girl, and she held it tight to herself. Right now, Angel needed all the comfort she could find.

"Wh-why...? Wh-why did h-he do...?" Angel could barely speak, and the succubus sat down on the platform of her stripper pole to watch the human's actions. "I... I don't... I just..." Pyronica sighed, flames flickering as she kept her emotions in check. Bill said he didn't have feelings, but if that were true, he wouldn't have backed off when she hit him back. As for herself, she... she wanted to rip that sick freak's eyeball from its socket and use its fluid as a base for her cocktail! Her feelings were hidden with years upon years of practice, but right now, she had to act. She had to be a shoulder for Angel to cry on.

Leaning forward, she brushed several tears from the fleshy's pale and freckled cheeks, biting down on her plump lip with her large teeth. "It'll be alright, kid. Don't worry. I'll... just stick close to me for now, 'kay?"

"... A... Auntie Ronnie...?" Her heart skipped in surprise at the silly name she called herself earlier when she was trying to console her. She wasn't sure if the human would ever fully trust any of them again, but she would try her hardest to make things better for her. To get it through the boss' thick ego that what he did was wrong. "Wh-why are you...?" Angel shook her head, sending her brown ponytail waving back and forth. She didn't want to finish the question, and instead moved on to another sentence. "Th... thank-"

"You don't gotta say anything, fleshy," Pyronica murmured. Her boisterous voice was calm. Quiet, and trying to keep the girl's nerves down. She could hear Angel's heartbeat through her chest, and under the mangled flannel shirt that covered her breasts and bra. She... she cared for her. She wanted this girl to be happy, and to love being around all of them. "You don't gotta say anything."

She saw that this girl was good for them. All of them. Even if he refused to admit it, Bill cared deeply for Angel. He refused to say it, but it was clear as day that he saw her much more than a puppet. He saw her as a partner, and... and something much more. _He'll_ _ **pay**_ _for that._ Her thought came out with a low hiss, and Angel flinched under her hand. "Oops. Sorry."

Angel lifted her head, having been staring at her lap, and offered a small and tired smile. "It's... it's fine." The two remained there for a few more minutes, the only sound being the thumping of dance music further in the Fearamind. Finally, with a few more thoughts, the pink monster stood up. Angel lifted her head to watch the demon head towards the door, and Pyronica cast a look at her.

"Come back when you're ready. I'll be having a few words with the boss." Her flames on her head flared, and she stormed out as her cape swept in the air from the motion. Part of her wanted to hug the girl, and allow her tears to stain her magenta skin. But right now, any major physical contact-especially with a monster such as herself-would terrify her. Her... her human friends were what she needed right now, and who knew if any of them were still alive.

The kid needed someone to care for her, and while Bill himself severed the trust she had for them, for **him** , there was still the Pines family. She needed acceptance. She needed love. And... and... how could a succubus, a demon who fed off of that, possibly offer it? Offer... what she herself craved? With a small sigh and a shake of her head, she set off with a determined face, and leaving pink flames at her feet.

Her encounters with Angel... were unusual. But at the end of the day, she had grown attached to her. She saw the girl as... as family. They were all closely knit together, after years and years of being caged. Trapped; Bill in the center, and Angel somehow weaving in to stand right alongside him. Pyronica would have loved to see her become one of them, a true being of weirdness, and rule the dimension with Bill. But not like this.

Never like this.

* * *

 **I had done a chapter in my Analyzing Gravity Falls short story about Elaine's thoughts on Pyronica, and I thought it'd be wise to do one from the other's perspective.**

 **There a few ideas that are just going to be one chapter, but there's a couple that span several. Honestly, this collection can go on for as long as I need it to be until the sequel is ready to go with the revisions happening.**

 **So, I'm going to ask what you wanted to see next: Gail enters Gravity Falls instead of Elaine, guardian angel Elaine and demon Bill, or Elaine ends up in the past with young Stan and Ford. One of these three are what I'll write next for chapter 3. There's some other ideas I have in mind that aren't listed here, but I want to deal with these first. The Stan and Ford idea will be multiple chapters, while the others may only be one chapter depending on what people think.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Angel**


	3. A Fresh New Perspective

**Disclaimer: Well, at the end of the day, the results show that this next chapter was going to be about Gail entering Gravity Falls instead of Elaine. The second chapter will be guardian angel Elaine and demon Bill, and the last will be Elaine winding up in the past with a younger Stan and Ford.** **The next poll of what I should do next will be after these three ideas are posted.**

 **foxchick1: Thanks for your opinion!**

 **StoriesUnleashed: I'll keep your votes in mind! With Elaine, Stan, and Ford, there's a lot of potential chapters there.**

 **RainbowCelin: No kidding. He didn't even make an appearance in this chapter! She will interact with Bill, but probably not the Henchmaniacs. The reason is she's four years younger than her sister, and way too pure and innocent for what Elaine's 'friends' stand for.**

 **Guest: Alright. I'll keep that in mind.**

 **Luckygurrl12: I can imagine this weird tension between her and Bill, and some creepy flirting going on. Oh, and if you can't already figure it out, guess who's guardian angel she belongs to?**

 **grapejuice101: ASAP isn't going to happen as much as I would like. Danganronpa and Bendy come before this, as the anthology is a side project to keep me invested in GF until I get the editing done on GFA.**

 **Hourglass Cipher: Well, I wouldn't say it's a lot, but for a first chapter I'm pretty happy.**

 **QueenKara671: Everyone focuses on all the other characters. The Henchmaniacs don't get as much spotlight. Plus, I just really love Pyronica. She's my fave to write, and I love her personality.**

 **Nina EverBlade: Did you mean the second chapter was beautiful? Because the first was Elaine passing out from her injuries.**

 **PoisonCupcake101: True. Rick and Morty have so many references in GF, and vice versa. When it comes time to write the chapters involving Elaine travelling with Ford across the multiverse, Rick has a very good chance of making an appearnace.**

 **Jerzu: Thank you!**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

"Mr. Pines! Mr. Pines, are you in here?" I poked my head around the corner of the room, and smiled nervously up at the man trying to set up a new attraction with a monkey's dead body glued to a fish butt. He had informed me that before the twins showed up, he wanted to add some new pieces to the Mystery Shack. Nothing too major, but something that would catch people's attention.

Stan sat down the taxidermy, and turned around to face me."Yeah? What is it, kid? That leg still bothering you?" I blushed, glancing down at said leg. He must've seen me favoring my left more, having been putting more weight on it instead. _Yeah... a little, actually._

When I had awoken in the Shack, I was... confused. I wasn't at home, snuggling with my body pillow and dreaming. Instead, I was with a broken left leg, several burns and scratches along my entire body, and a severe headache. My appendage was placed in a rough looking cast, as Stan seemed insistent on not bringing me to a hospital, and had let me remain there until we could figure out a way to get me home.

But how exactly... did one get home when you weren't even from this dimension? And when you couldn't clearly tell your unofficial guardian where you came from, other than you weren't from this country?

It had taken me far too long for my liking until I came to the conclusion I was in Gravity Falls. By then, I was... not really in tears. I was more on trying to wrap my head around it. Dimensional travel was always something she was interested in. We both had our love of the supernatural and paranormal, but I was more into the fantasy side of it. Fairy folk, mermaids, sprites, brownies. All of that was my thing. While my sister was more into ghosts, monsters of all types like goblins and ogres, and demons. Specifically, the demon from the show I was trapped in.

She liked Bill Cipher's character design. How his personality was built, what his goals were. She was... weird like that. Why else would I had gone and bought her that pine tree hat for her seventeenth birthday? _Now though..._

Now I was dragged across the multiverse not too long before I could give it to her.

"Yeah, but that's not I came here for." I walked over, hands behind my back. "I, uh... got you this." I brought my arms to the front, holding a small dark red gift bag with golden tissue paper sticking out at the top. Stan's eyes widened, and he took it from me. I wasn't sure if it was the fact I had given him a present, or because the colors I had chosen corresponded with the journals.

"Gail, what is...?"

"Happy birthday, Stan." I said, smiling. It was only hours before their bus arrived, and... and it seemed right to not have this day only focused on Dipper and Mabel, but on him too. An odd sound left him, possibly a chuckle or a choked gasp, and he sat it down on the table next to the dead animal to look inside. Setting the paper on the left of the present, Stan pulled out a large bag of toffee peanuts from inside. It wasn't too hard to buy them. I had convinced Wendy to take me to the mall so I could buy them. I didn't have money, but Stan was willing to pay me for helping out around the shop. Plus, the snack wasn't that expensive. His head looked from the bag of haunting color choices, to the food, and finally back to me. My smile was soft, gentle, and I brushed a strand of my dark brown hair out of my eyes. "Do you... like it?"

Stan sat the sweet treat down, turned around, and I squeaked as I was pulled into a rather tight hug. "Hehe. I love it, kiddo." Not because it was his favorite candy, but because who knew the last time someone celebrated his birthday. After all, when Stan remembered today... it was just another year without his brother.

He didn't know I already knew about Ford, and maybe he suspected something with the maroon and gold, but I liked the idea I had. "You're welcome," I said. Stan let go, and ruffled the top of my head, sending my waist length hair askew.

"Alright, now go get ready. Their bus should be here in about three hours." I nodded, and with a final grin, I slipped back out of the display area and headed to the living room. I threw myself into the couch, sinking into the worn fabric and feeling the stuffing of the cushions. As the old springs creaked under me, I shoved my arm under the left seat, and pulled out a small book.

A brown leather notebook, with a strip of leather that wrapped around it to tie it. Taking the pen out of my jean shorts, I began jotting down today's events. "Heh. I really take after you, don't I, Ellie?" She really liked writing down her discoveries in the forest, nature, and... everything, really. She never hid anything from her journal. Me? I chose to keep a diary. Mine was purely based on events happening, and not 'scientific' exploits.

"I wonder what they're like," I mused, pausing to tap the top of my pen against the corner of my mouth. Dipper and Mabel. Were they similar to what the cartoon showed? Sighing, I snapped the book shut and stuffed it away. I... I missed her. I missed my sister. Wh-why was I even brought to a different dimension? A world based on her favorite cartoon? Was it a joke? An experiment gone wrong? She would have been the most likely choice, not me.

I... I even made it clear, days before this happened. One of my last memories before it all went black, was telling her that if the multiverse theory was real, then I wanted no part in it. I wanted to stay there, with my family. I was so... homesick. I cried for hours once Stan left me alone to get ready for bed. I had shoved my head into my pillow, letting my tears stain the cloth covering it.

Wendy was nice in trying to cheer me up. She had scavenged some old clothing that didn't fit her anymore for me to wear, since everything I wore wasn't fit to wear. Jean shorts with a frayed hole on the right leg, black sneakers, an orange tank top, and a dark green zippered hoodie that was too big for me. A brown patch was on the left arm around the elbow, covering a hole that Wendy said was caused from a tree branch. She reminded me of a more relaxed, cooler, and taller version of Ellie. _Then again, most teens I know are taller than her._

I didn't deny the small amused smile that came with that thought, letting me cheer up slightly. The sound of the floorboards creaked, and I lifted my head towards the door I came through. Stan stood there, surveying my conflicted face that mirrored his almost exactly a few minutes ago. Without a word, he came in and sat down beside me. Wrapping an arm around me and letting my head slump against his chest, I inhaled the smell of aftershave. _Thanks, Stan. Thanks for... this._ "This... this is going to be an interesting summer, isn't it?"

"You bet it will be," Stan replied. His response was short, but it was much needed. I didn't need any massive talk, I just needed someone to be there. To be there, and... relate to me. We've both lost our siblings, and they were worlds away. Neither of us had to speak. Right now... this was enough. "Now let's just hope those two won't be as big of a handful as you are."

Really? I was the handful? _Oho, Stan, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into._

* * *

 **Happy birthday Alex Hirsch! And... happy belated birthday Gravity Falls. It's almost six years ago today since the first episode aired, which happens to also be the birthday of Stan and Ford. This chapter was all written today, because I felt that it was a nice idea to post on this special day.**

 **Stay tuned for the next chapter: guardian angel Elaine and demon Bill. My plan here is once all of my ideas have been posted as starter chapters, I'll ask you all which ones you want to see more. I have my own opinions, but I'm wondering what yours are.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Angel**


	4. A Match with a Cipher Part 1

****Disclaimer: Well, here's number 2 in the vote. In regards of the rewrite... still haven't started yet. I've been busy, and playing games... too much Zelda. On the plus side, my Bendy story is almost on hiatus again, so I can dedicate my attention back on this and my Danganronpa story. Honestly, fixing chapters shouldn't be too terrible. I just need the time and motivation to do it.****

 ** **RainbowCelin: Well, we'll have to wait until I write every idea at least once before I ask what you all want to see more of.****

 ** **Nekolover3: Maybe not exactly that. Bill originated from a dimension of only 2 proportions. Elaine having three wouldn't fit in. Perhaps arriving in the Nightmare Realm at the start, where Bill was only trapped there for a few weeks?****

 ** **Luckygurrl12: I was actually thinking more on Gideon obsessing over Gail instead of Mabel. I did throw around the idea of Dipper and Gail, but I'm having trouble seeing it.****

 ** **Hourglass Cipher: How about both?****

 ** **StoriesUnleashed: Originally, it was just going to be Gail waking up in the dimension, but seeing the time of the month, I changed it up. Alex's birthday, Gravity Falls' birthday; so many things to celebrate!****

 ** **Ooooh: Well, considering how demon-like I made him in GFA... it'd be hard to top that.****

 ** **Cynder Terror of Skies: Sabina...?****

 ** **QueenKara671: Gail was mentioned a few times in the second season of the show/story, but yeah, she only made a true appearance right at the end. I'll be asking later in a few chapters what stories people want to see more of. When that happens, let me know then that you want more Gail.****

"Speaking"

 _ _Thinking__

* * *

I huffed, blowing a strand of brown hair from my face as I watched Dipper walk animatedly through the woods beneath me. The boy occasionally looked up from his journal, surveyed his surroundings, and then descend back into the world of ink and parchment. "Come on, kid. What is it you're looking for this time?" He had been walking for at least twenty minutes. He should be near whatever it was he was searching for by now.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite guardian angel!" I rolled my eyes behind my glasses, not even bothering to turn to face the newcomer. I knew that nasally high pitched voice anywhere. "How's it goin', kid?"

"How many times do I have to keep telling you, Cipher, that I'm not a kid?" I watched the yellow glowing triangle enter my peripheral vision, but refused to turn. "Besides, if you're here for a decent conversation, I'm afraid you're not going to get one. Rule number one, remember?"

"Technically, that's rule two: don't associate with demons," Bill recited. As common knowledge, we all had to know the rules of entering the other plane. It was a... little harder in my case, thanks to him. "But it's not like you were a stickler for the rules, anyhow. Rule one was not letting yourself be seen by mortals-"

"Unless the situation calls for it," I cut in. At this point, he finally came around and floated in front of my face. His eye crinkled upwards in amusement, and my grey wings fluttered in annoyance. Grey. Angels usually had pristine white wings, but there was the odd occasion where one would have a slight off-coloring. Usually, it had to do with the darker creatures. Dark monsters, where our purity could get damaged. In a place like Gravity Falls, where your charge loved to hunt down such beasts, and where he captured the attention of a demon of the mind... yeah, my wings were pretty much all grey. There were a few streaks of white left, mostly at their tips, but that was it.

"Exactly. And hey! Not my fault the fleshbag decided to intervene with ol' Sixer's plans." I frowned, nodding at his strange point. It wasn't Dipper's fault exactly. The boy was the nephew of a man who almost caused the destruction of humanity. Angels were not particularly happy when that happened, and neither were a few monsters. We only had the one planet. And unlike Bill, we couldn't jump across dimensions. We were confined in strict boundaries.

How I was assigned to Dipper... that was a story all on its own. No other person would take him up, as he was destined to be someone who could unintentionally kill off their guardian angel. But... but something about that awkward, sweaty preteen... I immediately raised my hand, to the astonishment of my fellowship.

I liked a little danger. I liked the unusual, which was weird for an angel. Unfortunately, what I didn't know was that another child in the town had summoned a demon, just as I arrived.

Bill Cipher.

His appearance was... creepy, I supposed would be a polite term. Not grotesque, but creepy. The triangle latched onto my aura the moment he had ditched Gideon, and wouldn't leave me be. Apparently, he hadn't seen a female angel in men's uniform or one with a wing pattern like mine before. Compared to the long, flowing dress the women wore, I chose the long sleeved button-up and dress pants. Of course, everything was still white. Not to mention, my sharp tongue also kept Bill coming back. I was quick on my feet, ready to go at any given moment. I wasn't exactly... sweet, but my sarcasm had a way of appealing people as well as repelling them.

Should have been a clue that the demon found all of that a turn on after the first few visits.

"So what's the mission today?" Bill drifted to my right in the air, avoiding my beating wings and went to kick his legs back. He summoned his cane, twirling it casually in his long fingers. "Sirens? Kelpies?"

"Not sure. I keep hearing him mutter something about... growing crystals," I finally replied, after pausing to look in on what page he was on. "Guess he wants to rebuild that failed flashlight experiment in case a situation requires it again."

Bill hummed in agreement, and after vanishing his cane, we continued following high above the trees. "How're those wings treating you?" He poked a clawed finger at my right wing, and I flinched at the prod. "That color really suits you, you know? Not that boring white."

"It's just an affect of location, Cipher. That, and a result of you continuing to harass me on the job." I brushed his black arm away from me, glaring. "Aren't there any other angels in this town you can annoy? Literally, anyone other than a novice?" I hadn't been at this job for very long. In terms of guardian angels, I was young. In our terms... maybe an older teen or young adult? In human years, I was roughly two centuries old. Nothing compared to Bill. The triangle was ancient. And yet... he was stuck in a holding pattern.

No one started as a demon or angel. Specific events lead us to those paths. Bill did something to his home dimension which led to its destruction, and was sentenced to the Nightmare Realm. Time ran differently there, and so despite his trillion years of existence... he wasn't that much older than I was when I... I...

I died. Well, I couldn't recall how old I was when I died. All I could remember was saving my sister Abigail-who insisted on being called Gail-from something that would have certainly claimed her life. An animal, or drowning, or... the actual memory was lost to me. Decades of being around tend to make things all... fuzzy. I could recall if I tried really hard, but... but it made the pain easier if I didn't focus for too long.

"Nope! No angel's insane enough to step foot inside the town's barrier," Bill responded cheerfully. "You're the only one. Besides, that just gives me more time to focus on you, kid!" Without warning, he swung an arm around my neck, bringing my head down onto what little shoulder he had. "I like you, Angel. I can tell, when I get through into the dimension for real, we're gonna have some real fun!"

"What!?" I yanked myself away from Bill with a screech. My wings beat furiously as to gain distance between us. I had already lost sight of Dipper within the woods' thick canopy, but right now, Cipher was my top priority. __There goes rule two again!__ "Let me make this clear, Bill. I want nothing to do with you, your cronies, or your plan for global domination. I swear, if you get near Dipper or Mabel, I'll-!"

"You'll do what, Angel? Whack me with your halo?" He zoomed in before I could blink, body flickering orange. His temper had spiked, and with how ruffled my feathers were, we were both ready to lash out at each other at any given moment. "That brat of yours and his sister aren't gonna stop me, and neither are you. So just try and keep being a sweet little dove." His eye was mere inches from my face, and a claw was placed just under my chin so I had no choice but to look at him. I couldn't bleed, but the piercing sensation was still there, threatening to cut into my skin like it was paper. "I would love to be the one to make you fall."

His hand lowered, and I wrapped a hand around my throat to check for any damage. Finding none, I let my hatred fueled eyes fall on Bill. "W-well then, Bill Cipher." I was told not to interfere with demons... but if I had to do so to protect my charges... then so be it. "May the best player win." __I am__ _ _such chaotic good that even I blow demons out of the water. Yay me!__

* * *

 ** **I had no exact plan for this. I just started writing, and this happened. Stay tuned for more updates on GFA, and for the next chapter. Next time, we take Elaine back into Stan and Ford's youth.****

 ** **If Bill really was a trillion years old... you'd think he'd have been smarter. At the very least, slightly more mature than in the cartoon. I like to think the Nightmare Realm goes by in a different flow of time, affecting whoever resides in there. We know he destroyed his dimension, but the exact age he was when that happened remained a mystery.****

 ** **Until next time!****

 ** **Angel****


	5. A Blast to the Past Part 1

**Disclaimer: Woo! Good news, everyone! I finally finished Bendy-until chapter 5's release in October or something-and I can fully focus on rewriting GFA's chapters! More content, better phrasing, and it will all be as fast as work will allow me to write! Sequel will still be far out, but now the writing can officially begin!**

 **Hourglass Cipher: With two creatures that wouldn't be able to be seen by anyone else, they're forced to talk. The odd relationship with them was a blast to plan out.**

 **Luckygurrl12: Well, you're gonna love this chapter then!**

 **RainbowCelin: Hope you enjoy it!**

 **If anyone's curious, the chapter length will increase with the AUs that span several chapters. For ones that are starting out/setting the scene, they're a decent starting pace.**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

Everything was... dark. Dark, and cold, and oddly enough... damp? _Why's it damp?_ The surroundings didn't just confuse me, it also mixed with my feelings of absolute pain. Hurt, and torture; like the body itself was on fire from within. As if I had been dug into by wild animals, or was in a massive fire. Giving a whimper, I wearily blinked, letting my brain catch up with my body. _Huh... that explains the damp part._

I was in a cave, possibly near a coastline, since there was small sand dunes around the rocky crops. So I was definitely not in my room, and-why the heck was I looking like some action heroine!? What was with all the bruises and scratches and blood!? _Ow! The sand's irritating my cuts!_ "This is just a-you're dreaming, Elaine," I muttered quickly, trying to still my speeding heart. It wasn't like I had awoken far from my home, right? There were plenty of cliffs not that far off from my house, since we weren't too off from the ocean. I just... I just fell asleep by accident. Y-yeah. Fell asleep at the beach, which explained why I was still in a tank top and shorts.

"Now... how do I get out of here?" Standing up and supporting myself on the wall due to how weak my legs were, I surveyed the area. Holes in the cave's ceiling let in beams of sunlight, bathing a wrecked sailboat in a glow. Starfish, shells, and seaweed littered the sand, and small pebbles crunched under my feet as I neared the ship. The cave got deeper the farther you went, and it must have entered through the hole I saw across the water. The red boat was half stranded on the shore, with a ripped sail, and missing its back half. It was a large ship, with a cabin judging from the porthole on the side. It was a mess, but it was pretty impressive.

"Cool," I said, giving a small laugh. I took a few more steps to get a better look, until a bright light illuminated me from behind. Freezing, I whirled around to find two young boys, not that much older than my sister walking down the path where I came from. One had a tooth missing, a striped red and white shirt, jeans, and a bandage stuck to his chin. The other wore glasses, a brown coat with a light brown collar, a white shirt, and olive green pants. _Are they... twins?_ Besides a few faint differences, they looked almost the same. Same basic facial structure, same brown hair. "Uh... hi?"

The glasses boy gasped, surprised by seeing someone else inside the cave, and dashed towards me. "Are you alright, miss? You're bleeding!" _Oh, so it wasn't because of me being a random stranger._ His brother followed suit, equally taken aback by my appearance. Did I really look that bad?

"I, uh, n-no. I don't really know how I got here." I scratched my head, trying to play off my situation casually. I didn't need to scare these kids away. As of right now, they were my only chance at getting some assistance. "I just woke up not that long ago."

"Maybe she fell through the top," the other kid suggested, looking to the ceiling. As his eyes followed the sunbeam, I could see the wonder as he locked onto the ship. "Whoooaa... Ford, look at that!"

Glasses, or Ford as his brother called him, peered around me. "A shipwrecked sailboat, possibly haunted by pirate ghosts!" He exclaimed.

"This is the greatest thing I've ever seen! And I've once seen a dead rat floatin' in a bucket!" I stuck out my tongue at the idea, while Ford pushed him teasingly.

"Ha ha ha, ew, what's wrong with you?" Remembering their audience, Ford turned to look back up at me. "Sorry, guess we should introduce ourselves. I'm Stanford, but he calls me Ford," he pointed at his brother.

"Stanley, but he calls me Lee," the twin added, pointing back. Stanley and Stan... ford? N-no way. No way. Those were the names o-of the uncles in Gravity Falls. That was just a coincidence. People name children, especially twins, with similarities all the time. Heck, I even knew a pair of boys a year younger than me with strikingly similar names starting with a D. N-nothing odd about this, right...!?

"I'm Elaine. Elaine Milton," I finally addressed myself, managing to keep my voice from stuttering. I held out a hand, but immediately retracted it when I saw my pale palm was stained in red. Ford seemed to realize the severity of my injuries, and turned to his twin.

"Lee, maybe we should come back for the boat later. She needs help." Lee gave a hard look behind him at the boat, with what was clearly a young child's adventure paradise, then to me. Me, who was barely thinking straight from blood loss and being supported by two kids. His eyes softened, and nodded as his expression was set once again. "I'll get one arm, you get the other."

"Wait, what? Uh, guys, you don't have to-" Ford and Lee didn't let me finish, taking each scarred limb and throwing it over their shoulders. I had small drops of blood still leaking from them, but they didn't either notice or were too wrapped up in getting me out. They didn't even care that I was leaking over their shirts. As a unit, they began to lead me back towards where they entered, and I saw a smashed hole in wooden boards covering up the entrance. _They broke in?_ As we neared the beach on the other side, and more warm sunlight crept over us, I glanced at each boys' determined face. But when I went from Lee to Ford, I noticed something that... that finally made it all click.

Six fingers. Stanford had six fingers, tightly gripped around my arm to keep it in place. Lee and Ford... six fingers and a... boat. Holy-the Stan O' War. I-I was in Glass Shard Beach. I was in the Pines' past, decades off from the series, and... I wasn't in Cana-I wasn't remotely anywhere near home.

I wasn't in my own dimension.

"Elaine, are you alright? You look like you're going to faint." I blinked, fighting back the urge to either panic-vomit, pass out, scream, or some combination of the three, and shakily turned back to Lee. That boy... Stan Pines. Conman, Mystery Shack owner, and the greatest uncle Dipper and Mabel ever ha-err... would ever have. How could someone so coarse just... be so adorable right now?

"I-I'm fine. Just... just let's get me fixed up, huh?" The twins' voices turned to whispers, discussing what to do next, as my consciousness finally began to let up on me. My head slumped forward, and I felt the twins quickly grip tighter on my arms to keep me from falling. All I could make out was something about a pawn shop. I guessed that made sense. If anyone was going to help me, it'd be there parents. _But still..._ _I'm... in a different dimension and in the 1960s. I'm... gonna live through their rift and the portal._ Oh, sweet potato pie, I was so screwed.

* * *

 **And that's that. I only have four more ideas as of right now to write about before I ask you which stories you would like to see more of.**

 **One: the darker take of the Weirdmageddon finale that everyone wanted to see when I announced it in chapter 70-something of Gravity's Fallen Angel. When I post a chapter in GFA itself announcing the sequel's almost ready-which still is really far out-I'll say where that's posted. A lot of readers were interested in seeing how that would go, and it would be wise of me to direct them here.**

 **Two: Elaine ends up in the Nightmare Realm, but it's at the start of Bill's exile. It would be a little like how Elaine ended up there in chapter 1 of the anthology, but with this, Bill is still somewhat mentally stable. He hasn't been corrupted yet, and we would have the two of them stuck in the crawlspace of the multiverse alone together until the other demons arrive.**

 **Three: Elaine travels across the multiverse, going to a vast amount of different dimensions alongside Ford as he prepares to defeat Bill.**

 **Four: Elaine, as mentioned in Dipper and Mabel vs the Future, wished to take a major in computer science to build a fantasy video game franchise. In this AU, which takes place in her own world, Elaine has a Bill-oriented program on her laptop that inserted itself without cause or reason. Imagine Monika from DDLC.**

 **Well, that's all I have to say. I didn't go into detail the last time I listed the options, but that's because some of these ideas needed explanation.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Angel**


	6. Starting at the Very Beginning Part 1

**Disclaimer: Alright everyone. I've edited chapters 1 through 7 of GFA. They're a lot longer, with more material, better sentences, and new content. I plan on posting said edits though in groups of 10. Once we reach a multiple of 10, I'll post the changes. So... sometime between this and the next chapter. I am aiming for a minimum of 3000-ANs and prologue being the exception. This means that chapters-especially Tourist Trapped and Legend of the Gobblewonker-are much longer and better written. You're gonna love it!**

 **nekolover3: Thank you! And if you're the same person who I talk to on Deviantart, thanks for drawing fan art of my stories!**

 **Guest: Got it!**

 **Hourglass Cipher: Alright. I'll take your vote into consideration.**

 **Nina EverBlade: It would. Not to say the other ideas aren't, but it's a really interesting concept.**

 **Luckygurrl12: Actually, it's not so much terrifying as it is depressing. Really sad, and while my original idea is not perfect now since a lot had changed when I wrote those chapters before it, the general idea of what I wanted to happen is the same.**

 **Kidbuussister: Okay!**

 **QueenKara671: I wouldn't agree with Mabel and say ALL ideas are good ideas.**

 **RainbowCelin: My initial idea for the dark ending was planned out way before I wrote that far. It has changed from then, but the new idea is more sad now then dark. Really... it's pretty sad.**

 **Lunar Moon Butterfly: Alright!**

 **So this is the order we're going through. This chapter is going to be the Nightmare Realm, the next is the alternate scene of Weirdmageddon, the third being computer Bill, and the last being Ford and Elaine exploring the multiverse.**

 **If the start seems familiar, it's because I took most of it from the very first chapter of the anthology. Everything from this and that are similar, except for the fact only Bill is there.**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

Floating. That's what I felt like. Floating, and... warmth. N-no, not warmth. It was... a middle ground. Warm, and cold, all at the same time. I blinked away the heaviness on my eyelids, lifting a surprisingly sore hand to my face and rubbed my eyes tiredly, pushing my glasses around. It felt as if my entire body, my entire being itself, was on fire. Burning, with energy that wasn't my own, and leaking out from inside me. Torching, and blazing away at my skin. __Wh... why am I so... in pai-?__

I was... not in my room. Or, better to be technical, I was not in a real place. If I had to call it, I would say a living nightmare would be the best term. A swirling sea of bright colors churned around me, with lightning crackling around and striking the meteors that drifted by. Gravity was... lacking. In fact, there was nothing holding me there in place. I myself was floating in the air, the oxygen rich with... the smell of burnt hair? __The heck...?__ At least I understood that weightlessness sensation when I started coming to now.

"This is... this is just a bad dream," I mumbled. My outfit, a pair of green shorts and a dark blue tank top bobbed slightly where the fabric didn't cling to my skin, and my long brown hair flew up over my head. "Y-yeah. I'm just dreaming. Wake up, Elaine. Wake up. Wake up." I pinched my arm, but all I got was another ache to my already damaged bo-wait, what!?

My arms... th-they were burnt. Raw. Strips of skin, on them, and my legs, showed possible second degree burns. Scratches also littered them, with several large purple bruises to boot. My clothes were stained in red, and to my relief, it appeared as though my bleeding had ceased at the moment. __Why the heck am I looking like this? Wh-why am I looking like I just came through a war zone!?__ I shook my head, trying to rid myself of worst case scenarios, and looked around again.

There was nothing else around for miles, and I rolled back and forth repeatedly while trying to maintain a normal position. I wasn't flipping, but I was very close to it. My legs would shoot out from underneath me, and I would swing my arms around rapidly like a madman to correct myself.

I was known for having many weird, bizarre, and twisted dreams. Losing my teeth was a common theme, and having them pulled out to reveal misshapen and bloody sets instead. Then there was the glorious one where the entire county caught fire, and I was in a desperate and tearful rush to escape before I too caught ablaze. This, though... there was no way my imagination could have created, have spurned... such a nightmare. And the pain. The pain was far too real to be considered lucid dreaming.

Small, wispy trails of crimson floated up from a few still bleeding gouges on my arms, having been stretched during my panic to stay upright. "O-okay... j-just focus, Elaine. Think. You're... injured, bloodied, and somehow able to breathe in a foaming mass of horror." It could have been worse, I suppose. "At least... at least I'm alone in here."

Now... to find a place to regroup. That would be hard though. My head was pounding, and with the blood continuously leaking from me, it was only a matter of time before I passed out. Taking deep breathes, I paddled through the cosmic landscape as if it were a swimming pool. You know, if a swimming pool held unconstrained weirdness at its purest form. Every breast stroke through the cosmos hurt, and in each passing second, I felt my body grow weaker and weaker. It wouldn't be long now. I had to rest. I had to find shelter. Bu-but where? Where would I go?

I couldn't exactly hear anyone or anything else either. The sound of lightning filled the air, crackling and bouncing off the meteors and blasting chunks of rock into the air. Swerving to avoid getting close to any hurtling boulders, I paused to lean against a small asteroid. "You... you got this. Just... it shouldn't be much long-"

A sound. Something... something other than the blasts of electricity. It was low, and almost like... growling. Like an animal. _A very large animal,_ I thought, freezing at the idea. And by the realization of how I could now pick up on said sound, that meant I was close to whatever it was. "I-I need to move." Pushing away from the asteroid, I drifted backwards far enough to get a clear view of the endless space ahead of me outside of the rock-invested field.

And a clear view of the animal I had heard.

It was too far away to get clear details, but it was large. With long, tentacle-like arms snatching at the small meteors around it to support its weight, and composed of raw muscle that should have definitely belonged under one's skin. Those enormous jagged yellow fangs underneath a giant black eye with a yellow slit pupil, gnashing and chewing at... at...

It **ate** someone.

I-it had to have. I could see tendrils of blood floating around its twisted mouth, and several tongues-two, I think-slurping at the crimson liquid and whatever flesh was stuck in its maw. The eye closed, relishing in its meal before reopening. Its head turned around, and I paddled back slowly and cautiously. _Please don't see me. Please don't see me._

I blinked, and the monster was gone. Just... vanished. "Wh-where did it go...?" I looked around, listening and searching for where it went. I-I had to know where it went. I had to get as far away from it in this swirling madhouse as fast as I could. If I passed out now from blood loss, then... then that was it. Game over.

A chill swept over me, and I shivered. "Eugh." Looking down at my left shoulder, I saw a glob of some sort of red and clear liquid drip down on me. With a shaking hand, I reached up and poked it. _That's... saliva._ I saw the faint string still attached to the slime, and let my head looked up.

There, clinging to four meteors surrounding me, was the creature. Its eye widened, mouth snapping open and shut as it circled around me, inching closer and closer. _N-No! No, I can't... can't..._ my head was getting light, and the world began to darken around me. _Can't... pass out... now..._

My head hung limp, and my eyes fell closed. As my senses went into emergency shut-down mode, I felt something wrap around me, hooking under my arms and begin to carry me away. I couldn't open my eyes enough, but with the strength I could, I saw a small glimpse of yellow, darkening and brightening steadily. The color faded for a second, and it turned to look at me.

The last thing I could remember... was a large white eye, filled with confusion.

"Who are you, and how did you get here?"

* * *

 **There you go. This here's the starting point for this AU. Next update, we have the alternate ending for GFA. Originally... it was going to be a whole lot darker. But when I initially planned it, a lot of stuff in season 2 was written out yet. So things changed, and with that, so did this. My new plan is still dark, and there's a few changes, but the idea's still the same.**

 **By the next chapter, I should have those updates done. I'll let you all know so you can check out 1 through 9. Not 10 though. I prefer to do that episode as one instead of doing it in two groups.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Angel**


	7. If I Die Young

****Disclaimer: Okay, people. Chapters 1 through 9 have been edited and posted. I repeat, those chapters have been edited. This includes the introduction chapters, Tourist Trapped, Gobblewonker, and Headhunters.****

 ** **The next group will include Hand That Rocks the Mabel, Inconveniencing, Manliness, Double Dipper, Irrational Treasure, and Fight Fighters. As of right now, 10-12 have been fixed. I might not get much revised until next week, since I work all weekend. I'll hopefully get everything up by next weekend... hopefully.****

 ** **Lunar Moon Butterfly: Yep. The fact it's Bill and she knows where he was during the show is a big factor. However, he doesn't have a name for it yet, so Elaine names it herself.****

 ** **Hourglass Cipher: I accept your applause.****

 ** **RainbowCelin: Well, seeing that we already know who's monstrous form that is, and who flickers a yellow glow, I would hope you'd think that was Bill. If that AU comes around again, you'll be seeing just how different this Bill is from what we've come to know.****

 ** **PorousBubbles: Depending on the voting I'll do after all of my ideas are posted, I'll see which ones should be expanded on. Personally for me, Elaine in both versions of the Nightmare Realm, Elaine in the past, and Elaine and Ford travelling across the multiverse are my favorites. I have my hands full with my Danganronpa story, and revisions are a slow process what with work going on. I'm hoping to have the sequel up next month. Even though it's being revised, things still might not be perfect, and I'm hoping that's okay for anyone who wanted it better written.****

 ** **Now, for anyone who has read GFA, the first part of this chapter is taken directly from the original story. However, you WILL know when things start to change. I also noticed when I went to get the original, that there was this odd piece where 'Ford snapped back' was all shoved together, and I put 'they' instead of 'the' by mistake during the big erase scene. Don't worry, stuff like that's going to be fixed in the editing process.****

 ** **One more thing. This is showing the less sweet goodbye between Elaine and Bill. In this case, we're seeing what would happen if Elaine felt zero pity for the demon being defeated. To be frank, after writing this I'm definitely changing that farewell scene in the story after writing this. Still a bittersweet moment compared to this, but I want to show that Elaine does not forgive him completely in the true chapter. A tiny part does, but for the majority, she's ticked.****

"Speaking"

 _ _Thinking__

 _ ** **Bill speaking****_

* * *

Elaine's POV

 _ _Bill Cipher.__ "Ha ha ha ho! This is just too perfect!" __Bill Cipher.__ "Didn't you brainiacs know the zodiac doesn't work if you don't all hold hands?" __Bill... n-no. No. No.__ Stan and Ford stepped back cautiously, exchanging a look of pure dread. "And what's better, you've brought every threat to my power together in one easy-to-destroy CIRCLE!" His arms swept out in front of him, unleashing a fury of flames from them. The blaze hit the floor and to our horror, burned the zodiac, catching the painted ritual on fire. O-our one way of finally ridding ourselves of him. Gone. A-all gone. Dipper screamed in alarm, and Pacifica and Robbie shrieked as their hair was caught alight. The two patted it out as fast as they could, managing to avoid burning their scalps. Th-those same red arms that I knew all too well from the Mindscape snaked around Stan and Ford, bringing them up into the air and in front of Bill. The men thrashed against the binds, but it was futile. Bill was too strong. "You guys wanna see what happens to your friends when you can't get along?"

"Hey! You give them back!" Fiddleford shouted, finally snapping the rest of us humans out of our shock.

"You've gone too far, Cipher!" Gideon added.

"Yeah! We're not scared of you!" Wendy grabbed her ax, as Fiddleford took out his banjo. Even Gideon, who had no more power or weapons to his name, held up his small fists. H-he was ready to fight that monster with his bare hands. __W-when did he have a change of heart?__

"Oh, but you should be." The demon's pupil was so small, it was barely noticeable. With a snap of fingers, everyone but me and the twins stiffened in unison, making brief choking noises. A demonic red glow covered all of them, and eyes glowed yellow as their pupils extended to that of a cat's, rolling into the upper parts of their head. Mouths drooping open, they were lifted into the air, over our heads.

"Oh no!" Dipper yelled as Mabel shrieked. I hugged the kids close to me as our friends were brought up onto either side of Bill. The demon looked down at us, glaring. "You know, this castle could really use some decorATIONS!" Tightening his fists, they all vanishing in a burst of light and reappeared behind him as he relaxed his hands. B-banners. Tapestries, of his success over the town. Everyone was staring out from their twisted cages, screaming in horror with their symbol displayed beneath them. __Pacifica! Fiddleford!__

"Looks like it's too late for your friends, Stanford." Bill pointed behind him as he turned to face Ford, and out from the ground, a pyramid blue cage rose up, snapping shut around me, Dipper, and Mabel. My hold on them tightened so much, I was certain I was going to cut of their blood circulation. Stan and Ford watched us, and I could hear Stan cry out from high above. "But you can still save your family. Last chance: tell me how to take Weirdmageddon global and I'll spare the kids!"

Dipper and Mabel broke out of my arms, rushing to the cage's walls and reaching out for their uncles. "No! Don't do it!" Dipper begged.

"Yeah! Bill makes bad deals!" Mabel added. Bill turned to face us in a flash of red, and I twitched in fright, foot moving back as my fight-or-flight response began to kick in. __N-no! Not Mabel! Not-wait!__

"Don't you toy with me, Shooting Star." I see EVERYTH-!" As fast as I could, I flipped my knife out from my bag and clicked it open, dashed forward. Using the cage as a footstool, I leapt onto a bar, pushed myself upwards, and stabbed my knife right into Bill's eye. I stabbed. Bill freaking Cipher. In the eye. __Holy cr-I'm gonna die for this.__ With a grunt, I pulled down as fast as I could, and hit the ground with a thud. The gouge was almost a foot long, and the same inky black blood from before when the dinosaur sank its teeth int it sprayed out, staining the floor and myself. My hair was plastered to my shirt and skin, but I stood my ground, stained in the dark fluid. "OW! ANGEL!"

"That's for threatening my family!" I declared, as Stan laughed loudly overhead.

"Nice shot, sweetheart!" He yelled as the binds around him and Ford gave way. Without Bill's focus, the two crashed to the floor with a grunt. The demon's eyelids were closed, and he held it tenderly.

"I just regenerated that eye!" I snapped the knife back into its handle, shoving it into my pocket. __Not so fun when you're getting tricked, is it, Bill? Is it!?__

Dipper smiled at me, and took the flashlight out from his vest. Igniting the blue beam, he shone it onto the cage and let it grow several sizes until it was big enough for us to slip out through the holes in the walls. "Save yourselves. Run! We'll take care of Bill!"

Stan gaped at us without words, appearing to have multiple heart attacks at the command from his nephew. "What!? That's a suicide mission!" Ford shouted, thinking we were all clearly out of our minds and getting ready to run over to us. Maybe we were. But at this point, it didn't matter. We weren't going down so easily. I was ready to fight for my life. If I was going to die in this dimension, then I was going to die with my friends!

And Dipper... he seemed to sense the danger of his words too. But there he was, smiling, and ready to take on the demon one last time. "Trust us. We've beat him before..."

"... and we'll beat him again!" The three of us high fived before turning to look up at Bill. "Hey! Bill! Come and get us, you pointy jerk!" We ran underneath him, and heard the demon growl, his rage spiking to dangerous levels. Okay, okay, so now he's beyond ticked at us-scratch that. Me. Now we just had to run like heck and try not to die. Simple! Mabel paused to blow a raspberry at him before rejoining us down one of the endless corridors, and I couldn't help but throw an insult back at him.

"This way, you trigonometric reject!" __Oh, I am so gonna die!__ Taking their hands, I pulled them down a hall on the left, just as a massive bang came from behind us. As Dipper and Mabel ran, almost pulling me along due to my limp, I chose to make the grave mistake of looking back. What I saw... was about of twisted, and grotesque as what I saw in the Nightmare Realm.

It was like the monster that lived inside that husk was trying to spill out. His form was divided into three sections, revealing blackened muscles and the same slimy, slithering tongues that I saw lap up the blood of the creature he snapped in half for his next meal. While he had only the one pair of legs, he had more than enough arms, resembling a horrific version of some kind of spider. All around the edges of the bottom and middle part of him, when it stretched to meet the next piece were those same, razor sharp teeth that could rip you to bloody shreds. Only the color suited his angry form more. His limbs were glowing yellow along with his hat, his body was red, and his slit pupil was golden in a sea of darkness. P-pupils. Each side of him had an eye, s-so no matter where we were... he was going to find us.

The pillars around us were torn down as Bill barged past, strength knowing no more bounds. "When I get my hands on you kids, I'm gonna DISASSEMBLE YOUR MOLECULES!" __Holy-MOVE!__ Dipper took a sharp turn to the right, dragging me and Mabel with him. As we came to a stop below another hallway going upwards, Mabel quickly took out her grappling gun from her sweater's pocket. __Hurry, hurry, hurry!__ "You've tricked me for the last time!" I saw the yellow glow lash out towards us, but Mabel brought us up out of his grasp before he could nab us. Screaming, we flew through the air as Bill gave a loud roar. With a swing, Mabel launched us down into a vent-like hall, snapping the cable back to her as we took off running again to put some distance between us and Bill. There was no way Cipher could follow us through that without shrinking in size, and it appeared he knew that too. His massive black and yellow eyeball lit up the entrance behind us, narrowed in angry annoyance, before moving on through the Fearamid.

"H-he's gonna find another way around," I panted, shoulders shaking. What are we gonna do now? No matter where we go, he's going to keep hunting us down, one by one. __What are... we... hmm.__ "I-I have an idea." And it... wasn't one I was proud of. I knelt down to their height, resting a hand on both of their shoulders. "Listen, Dipper, Mabel, I-I'm gonna try and divert him away from you. Get him as far away from you while you go and find the rest of the town, o-okay?"

"Elaine, are you insane?" Dipper probably would have been screaming out the question, had it not been for the fact we were trying to hide from said monster at the moment. __Monster.__ How much had our p-partnership changed to where I no longer saw him as someone I trusted. As the d-demon he really was. "Y-you can't go hunting him down! He'll kill you!"

 _ _I know... I know that very well.__ "But... but it's a risk I'm willing to make. I-I know for a fact, that the moment we started this plan that it was gonna turn into a suicide mission. W-we were all ready to give our lives for this town, a-and so am I. E-even if this wasn't my world at the start, it is now. I am ready to die, and if it means guiding the triangular devil away from you, then so be it." Mabel sniffed and launched herself at me, wrapping her arms around my torso in a death grip.

"Ellie, please. We can't do this without you," she mumbled into my collar. Dipper's face was torn. Part of him knew I had to do this, and that no amount of pleading would stop me. The other side... was the part that was my best friend, and the boy who had that massive crush on me. The boy who would stay by my side no matter what.

"I'm sorry, Mabel. I really am." I pressed my lips to her forehead, hugging her tightly before releasing her and sprinting off down the hall away from them. I heard her shouts behind me, begging for me to come back, only to be held back by Dipper. My heart beat loudly in my chest, from nerves and guilt. There was no way I could turn around, and see their faces now. I was so, so sorry. But I had put so much danger into their lives by making my deal with Bill. I had to make things right. I had to get him away from my twins... n-no matter what. The tunnel branched off again, and I darted off to the right. He was going to find me, no matter what. My brand kept burning, broiling my flesh with his magic. H-he was trying to locate me through our connection. He was trying to use me to find them. __Just keep running, Elaine! Keep running! KEEP RUNNING!__ Whatever I did now, was reliant on trying to get as far away from Dipper and Mabel as possible. I had to get as far away from them as possible, to lure him away. The ground shook for a moment, and I stumbled onto my knees for a brief second. __Don't stop, idiot!__ Springing up, I launched forward as fast as I could-

"GOTCHA!" The shriveled glowing hand lashed out, snapping around my body and yanking me into the air with sharp reflexes that I could not avoid. Shrieking at the top of my lungs as the fingers tightened around my form, pinning my arms and legs together, I was lifted high into the air and away from the safety of the floor. A tunnel, one I hadn't even noticed, was right above my head. A perfect spot for the spider to lie in wait for his prey. The eye stared at me, unblinking with such hatred and rage that I would have been dead on the spot. All of his arms were stretched out round the triangular hallway, keeping him high above the ground, with his legs dangling under him. "Angel," he voice was low, warning. His eye quickly glanced ahead of me, and narrowed when it returned. He was searching for them, and did not like it when he came up empty. "Where are they?" His hand clenched, and I gasped as the air left my lungs. The moment stars began to appear in my vision, he loosened enough for me to breathe. Barely. "Where. Are they?"

"Go... to... hell," I wheezed. "I will... never tell you... anything. Ever again." Fishing into my pocket with my hand pinned to my side, I carefully slid the knife back out. Giving my own small sadistic grin, I stabbed him in his hand and twisted the blade. The demon shrieked, dropping me in surprise. What I didn't count on was for another hand to snap out and catch me just as quickly. My knife was still in my hand, but with his tightened grip, I couldn't move it around again. The demon growled, bringing me straight up to his face as his red color deepened. __Just ke-keep him distracted. No matter what happens, don't let him leave.__

"You just don't know when to ****QUIT**** , do ya!?" His index finger traced my jawline, letting his claw draw a thin line of blood. Grimacing through the pain, I refused to let up. __For the twins. For Dipper and Mabel. Y-you got this.__ "Monster, am I? You must be an ****idiot**** to not have figured that out sooner. Well, tell me, my 'dear', is this enough of a monster for you?" His index finger traveled down to my side, shuffling the tank top and flannel under his nail before his eye gleamed.

And he stabbed the claw straight through the clothes and into my body, wiggling it to pierce it deep into my side.

"AAAHHHH!" Pain. Pain that I had never even imagined coursed through me, igniting every nerve, every feeling I ever had. My body wasn't my own at that moment, thrashing without my own thinking, going on its own work. Blood leaked from the wound, but it was his hand that still held me that kept me from possibly bleeding out right then and there. __MASON! MABEL! HELP ME! HELP!__ My thoughts were not my own. They were screeching; begging for help, as I wailed uncontrollably in his grasp.

"Those two ****brats**** aren't gonna save you this time." His arms were twitching madly, grabbing at each other as to try and contain himse-contain? __Wh-what...?__ The eyes on the sides, while the one on the back was unreachable to my blurred sight, showed the faintest, faintest form of regret. But the eye that was centered on me was the one in control, watching in twisted enjoyment. "You betrayed ****me****. And I don't let my puppets leave that easily." His nail slowly retracted from me, letting the red blood begin to fall and stain my clothes. I sagged forward, no longer having the strength to keep myself upright.

Bloody and watery tears stung, blurring my vision. "B... Bill..." a loud boom echoed from the hall I was about to dart through, and Bill's eye twisted in a sick 'smile'.

 _ _Dipper and Mabel. No. No!__ "Found them," he mockingly sang. His arms released him from the roof, and he began crawling as fast as he could towards their direction. Pillars tumbled as he pushed off of them to propel himself forward, not caring for the destruction he brought to his own castle. As he gave chase, the demon kept me close to his face, watching the energy drain from away fro me. I-I doubted it'd be the death of me at the moment, with how he was keeping the wound compressed with his hand, but the blood lose was going to make... me... __stay... awake...__

My head slumped against his hand, eyes glazing over. "You... wanted power, Bill. You tortured... my friends and fam-family, you destroyed my town, a-and what you d-did to me... eugh... you wanted absolute power, and... you go-got it." I didn't believe I was aware of my own words. I think I was rambling out of my head right now; out of it altogether. "You're j-just as bad as the c-circles from your... world. H-heartless, and soulless, j-just like y-you... wanted. Hope you're happy, yooou sick... siiick..." the insult fizzled out with the rest of my strength, leaving me a rag doll in his hand.

I was still awake, yes, but only in mind. I was trapped inside myself, watching the demon hunt down my friends. My energy had finally depleted, but my mind was still active enough to function and watch. Every few seconds, Bill's red color flickered. From the deep shade of rage he was now, to a small speckling of yellow. Conflicting 'feelings', no doubt. But... did it really matter to me? I was semi-conscious. Semi-lifeless. Bill's demonic form shifted around me as I laid in his hand, reforming with several disturbing snaps into his familiar yellow husk. The three sections snapped together, twisting to reform his two dimensional body and retract the mouths and tongues. Arms were willfully vanished, and the four eyes, on on every side of his monstrous body, rammed together to recreate the one singular. His pupil darted to me, and I felt the tip of his sharpened nail brush a trail of tears from my cheek, tears that ****he**** caused.

Maintaining his larger size, he walked towards a ledge that fell at his eye-level, lifting me up to see my friends stare out in horror at the ruined Shacktron far below. __Dipper. Mabel! Run, get out of there!__ "Peek-a-boo!" His eye lit up in a yellow light, and as he stepped back, my heart twisted as they were caught inside the tractor beam. His hand that held me opened enough to grab the children, and I heard Dipper scream my name as they were pressed against my bloodied body. The terrified brunettes shouted my name, but couldn't reach me in our current position. The three of us were carried back down the hall, and the twins fought against the blackened appendage, trying to us break free. __Elaine, wake up!__ I internally screamed. __You gotta snap out of it! Forget the pain! Forget what Bill's put you through! If you don't do something, Dipper and Mabel will...!__

I blinked, multiple times, and felt my heart begin to speed up. __Second wind. Finally.__ "Alright, Ford," Bill spoke. He ducked under the roof of the hall and stepped into the main room. Stan and Ford were trapped in a cage just like ours, staring up at us in terror. "Time's up. I've got the kids. I think I'm gonna kill one of 'em now just for the heck of it!" __Wh-what!?__ "EENIE..." a red light shone out of the demon's eye, glowing around us, and I finally forced myself to spin around and look up at the triangle. In the dead center of the red glow was the pine tree symbol. "MEENIE..." a shooting star. __N-no! Please, No!__ "MINEE..." the twins froze as they whirled around. The last word... ended on the shooting star. NO! __MABEL!__ "... YOU!"

"NO!" I shrieked the word, and immediately... blood sprayed from my mouth in a harsh ragged cough. The demon stopped short, hand freezing inches from snapping his claws. Dipper and Mabel stared at me in horror, and I could hear Stan and Ford screaming my name far below.

"Elaine!" My body hung limply from the demon's hand, the crimson liquid dripping from my mouth and running down my chin. __I'm... I'm dying.__ Blood was getting into my lungs from where he stabbed me. I-I was going to die, in this monster's hand with... with the twins watching.

"Angel?" I could hear the question in Bill's voice, and his hand's grip loosen. "Kid?" __Oh sure,__ _ _ ** **now****__ _ _you care?__

"Heh... hehe... y-you win, Bill. Guess... guess that deal really was th-" another ragged cough, and globs of congealed blood came up and splattered against his blackened skin. "-death of me." I felt the wind rush past me, and I felt the cold feel of the Fearamid's bricks under me as I was laid down. Dipper and Mabel shook me, having been dropped as well, and I felt tears drip onto my red skin. Their faces hung over my head, and all I could do was stare up at them. Their faces were flushed, and tears were welling up in the corners of Mabel's eyes.

"Elaine, you gotta wake up, okay?" Dipper begged, hands on my shoulders while his sister gripped my left arm. "Look at me. You're-you're going to be fine." Mabel didn't speak, and between Dipper's pleas I heard the grunkles pound on the glowing blue cage, wanting to break out. Through glazed eyes, I looked upwards at the ceiling, past their heads. Bill, still at his larger size stared down. It was like everything that he just went through, hunting down me and the twins and threatening to off us just... stopped. Why... why did he stop trying to kill Mabel? Was it because I was going to die anyway, and that would be enough for him?

"Dang it, Cipher! Let us out! She'll die if she doesn't get that wound stitched up!" Ford snarled.

I heard a desperate shout from Dipper, and saw a blackened finger brush against the side of my face. "Kid?"

"All... your fault... hehe." I felt fluid well up in my throat, and I was tilted onto my side so as to not choke on it. By him, or the twins, I couldn't tell.

You know... I was very ready to die. When I thought tha-that I was never getting out of the Fearamid, and was to be doomed by the demon's hands, I-I had accepted death because I-I was broken. My will was drained, and I-I saw no hope.

But... I got out. I-I fell yes, but I got out. I found my friends, my family, and stumbled back to my feet. Broken? Yes. Traumatized? Definitely. But... but I wasn't completely destroyed. I led our way to getting the townsfolk back, and freeing Ford.

When I found out way back with the monster fight in the Mystery Shack, the one where Stan was away on Cash Wheel, that I could d-die there, I kept that in the back of my mind on every adventure. The risks were real, and I knew that. But... but I couldn't stop that. I had to keep going, and keep my friends safe.

 _ _But I'm... not ready to die... not like this.__ In front of Dipper and Mabel, and Stan and Ford. This image, of my bloodied and beaten body, carved into their minds.

A crackling sound, like static electricity, ripped through the air. My eyes, while glazed over, looked up along with the twins'. Bill's body, now it's smaller and familiar size, landed on the floor in a thud petrified in stone. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain sear across my head. __Is he... what do you think you're doing?__

 _ ** **I am NOT letting you die. You're mine, Angel. I don't care how you feel about it, or your protests, but I refuse to let this waste of organic cells give up so easily. I-I won't let you die on me.****_

"Heh... a-all according to p-plan..." the blue cage, without Bill's focus, descended into the ground. Stan and Ford sprinted towards us, sliding to a stop as my breathing turned worsened.

"Kid! Kid, you're going to be fine, alright? Just stay with us." My face screwed up in confusion at Ford's words, before a light bulb went off in my head.

"Y-you... you switched clothes. Y-you were going to let B-Bill possess Stan." Dipper and Mabel stared at me, and looked to their uncles in shock, who mimicked their expressions.

Ford, in Stan's clothes, was surprised. Did he really think no one would figure it out? Though, it didn't seem that Bill would catch on, as he was so wrapped up in the moment. "How did you piece that together?"

A small, but sly smile graced me. "Six fingers." He looked down at his hands, and chuckled. "I-I can't distract him for l-long. I-I-I'm trying to keep my mind bl-blank for as long as I can." I wrapped my hand around Dipper's wrist, keeping him in place. "You... you got to erase-"

"No!" Ford's shout cut me off, making Mabel jump and drop my arm. "Elaine, this fight isn't your own anymore. Just let Bill leave your mind, and we can take care of this."

I quirked my brow, somehow still managing an unamused look despite my pain. "Er... erasing Stan's mind is fixing it?" Dipper and Mabel now appeared to fully catch what I was saying, and stared at Grunkle Stan in horror.

"You were going to let your mind get erased?" Dipper almost yelled.

I didn't let Stan argue back, and pointed to the abandoned bags on the floor, where I knew the memory gun was. "Th... there isn't m-much time left. Bill's trying to maintain my body as we speak, h-healing it from within. O-once you rid him, everything wi-will reset. You... get me to a hospital as f-f-fast as you c... can."

"But what if that doesn't work!?" Mabel shrieked, tears running down her face. "Elaine, you can't just leave us here!" Her rapid breathing, coming out in sob-filled gasps paused as I lifted my other hand to rest upon her cheek.

"Th... then it w-" another cough, and I saw the blood splatter my wrist as it was held in front of me. "... it was worth... making sure my Mystery Twins were safe." I tiredly looked up at Stan and Ford, who kept quiet. Stan looked about to protest, but he saw that I was serious. I-I had to go through with this. "H-hurry..."

Ford got up without a word, and walked over to the bag. As he walked over, we saw him inputting the information into the dial. "M-Mabel... Dipper... p-promise me, that this won-won't stop you from ge-getting out there, and d-" I gasped, trying to refill my lungs. "Doing stuff, alright? Do-don't be scared."

"Ellie..." Mabel whimpered. Dipper, with his freed hand, took my other hand and placed it back over mine.

"We won't." He was so close to tears, but still kept calm. Mabel lowered her hands atop of mine, and we all piled them together. "M-Mystery Kids?"

"... Mystery... Kids." I locked eyes with Ford, and nodded. "Do it." __You're going down, Bill.__ The last thought that faced through my head as the beam struck me, and possibly the last Bill would ever hear from me. Everything hurt as the bright blue light blinded me, but I did not scream. Scenes from the summer flashed through my head, as it was like they were ripped from my brain. **_**_ANGEL!_**_** He was furious. Enraged. But... but I was glad. I got myself away from a toxic relationship, and I kept my twins safe. **_**_What the hell do you think you're doing!? Get in here!_**_**

I barely had time to blink before everything finally went black, and I was booted into the Mindscape by the demon. Teetering on the edge of life and death was messing with my head, and letting myself get pulled in was not as difficult as it normally would've been. My mind, once a lush and active meadow filled with flowers and blue skies, was crumbling around me. Around the edge, and inching closer and closer was a burning ring of blue flames. The golden ponds were churning a black foam, splashing wildly and soaking the grass around their edges. And there, right in the middle and waving his hand around was Bill himself. "Why isn't this working!?" He shrieked, going to grip at his head. Suddenly realizing he wasn't alone, he whirled around to face me. "YOU!"

"Me," I stated, finding myself to be... calm. Deadly calm. "It's over, Cipher."

"Over!? You-you idiot! Angel, don't you realize that you're dooming yourself along with me!? You aren't going to survive this!" I nodded, and sat gently down on the grass. The crackle of the flames drew near, and Bill's form suddenly began to glitch. Twisting and shifting into disturbing forms that I had not seen.

"Maybe, yeah, but at least my friends will be safe. I... I have redeemed myself. Heh. Not much I can say about you though." The ring was closer now, and the demon screeched as it began to burn at his body. "This is what you get. This is what you deserve. F-for trying to kill my friends. For playing Ford for a fool all those years ago. For me," I growled out the end. "For all of the pain, and suffering I went through during these last few days. I let you trick me, but not anymore."

Bill's form was fading in and out, and in a last ditch effort flew at me, arm stretched out in desperation and fear. Fear. Huh. Never thought I'd live to see that expression in his eye. I-I did pity him, slightly. In all those nice moments, I did enjoy his company. But in these last few days... he crossed the line. He assaulted me, destroyed my town, tortured Ford... and tried to kill Dipper and Mabel. All of those have overpowered the good moments. And now...

"AAANGGEEEL!" He screeched, and just as he neared me... _n_ _ _ow... it's time to show I've won our little game, Bill.__ I slowly opened my palm, bringing my hand upwards with a deep breath... and used what little energy I had left to summon a fire spell, said in a faint whisper. "Ignis." The ball appeared in the center of my hand exploded, the blast scorching through his very being. "AAAHHH!" The red flames ripped through him, puncturing his triangular body until Bill Cipher, one of the most feared beings in the multiverse... was gone. Erased.

"Gone just like a... a thought in the head. Hehe... knew that spell was going to come in handy one day." __Who would've thought that... the spell he taught me would be his undoing.__ The ring was closing in now, and I felt the heat wrap around me like a blanket. Closing my eyes, I sighed deeply. Those three mistakes that I thought about during our time at the pool and dealing with the merman... entering the wrong dimension, making a deal with the demon, and having the time of my life with the twins and... well, part of that third one was now incorrect, but... but the rest still stood fast. I did have a good time, and... and I hoped the twins did too. "Guess... guess I made a good choice in going against the rules after all." A final image of two brightened smiles; a shooting star sweater, and a pine tree hat flashed through my head... and everything went dark.

"... I... win."

* * *

 ** **This is the longest chapter of the anthology to date. Why? Because it's copy-and-paste, and an absolute feels trip. A chapter, in which Elaine shows little pity for the demon and offs him in Stan's place... I loved this way more than I should.****

 ** **I have finally edited chapters 10 to 12 of GFA, but like the ones before it, they will be stored up until I reach chapter 20. By then, I'll post all updates. Got to say, I'm pretty proud of how it's going. Slow, yes, but the added details makes it more fun to read-in my opinion-and increased the word count. I've ended up surpassing 400 000 words by changing those last few chapters! If I get to 500 000 by the end of it all, I think I'm gonna scream.****

 ** **Next chapter, we go into computers and demons. Until next time!****

 ** **Angel****


	8. Cryptology for Dummies

****Disclaimer: Gotta say, compared to every chapter so far, that last one was the biggest one yet. Makes sense. Compared to the first 6, that was a true chapter meant for something much larger. Also, sorry if the wait for this one was longer, but the reason why will be stated below.****

 ** **Luckygurrl12: He deserved everything in that final moment, and having Elaine deliver the final blow seems perfect. It's chapters 1-9. I've revised 10-12 as of right now. My fall semester should begin before the revisions end.****

 ** **Lunar Moon Butterfly: Same. Though, I do plan on editing that last moment in the true chapter to show how much Elaine doesn't forgive him. Because I will admit, it does sound like she's forgiving him.****

 ** **Hourglass Cipher: I know. I'm pure evil. ;)****

 ** **KingOfWhispers: You're welcome!****

 ** **RainbowCelin: Thanks!****

 ** **ponystoriesandothers: Dark start? Heh. You haven't seen anything yet.****

 ** **While I was preparing to write this, I actually noticed that Elaine and Hope-an OC from an Undertale story-both are/were set on dealing with computers as a career. Mostly, I think it had to do with how they grew up, fascinated with fantasy related subjects, and games that involved that. Seeing that, I had an idea. Why not have both exist in the same multiverse? For anyone who enjoys my stories, and likes Undertale, feel free to check it out! You might be in for a surprise at the end. Which is... why this chapter took such a long time. Sorry!****

 ** **This chapter follows a very different timeline. Besides Elaine dealing with a computerized Bill, she is still living in her own dimension. She never went to Gravity Falls, or met the twins. She is also in her first year of university, and several years older. We're skipping ahead 2 years.****

"Speaking"

 _ _Thinking__

 ** **Typing****

* * *

"Um... what are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out this problem, Hope. What does it look like?" The taller, darker haired brunette rolled her eyes, and plopped down on my bed. She grabbed one of my pillows, a white one with decorated with flowers, and held it in her lap while resting her chin on the top. My laptop was set up on my desk opposite of her, and connected to a larger monitor to give me a better and clearer view of my programming frustration. "I. Hate. This. Thing!"

Hope giggled, and leaned forward to look. The sad dorm's bed springs creaked under her, showing some of the age of my room. __If I wanted age, just looking at the peeling wallpaper is enough to make me sad.__ "How many times have you gotten that error there?"

"Too many to count," I replied. I scrolled around the screen, checking the lines of code. __Thank goodness everything's numbered.__ "My publics are correct, and it looks like my for loops are too... it's linked lists, I'm telling you. As if arrays aren't a pain enough, we throw these in too." Hope was a girl a few years my senior. When I had gone to university for computer science, she was already in her third year. She was also an RA on my residence level, and had taken to assisting me in my work once she found out we were in the same major. Next thing I knew, she and I would invite the other to work, snack, and do other fun and wacky stuff together.

The strange thing was, I almost could relate to her. She shared my same interest in the unnatural and strangeness, but more based around a scientific point of view. I preferred to get my hands dirty, and explore the outside world. She would chat with some guy on her computer, discussing mathematical equations that went far over my head. Some guy named 'Sam', who seemed to be almost like an older brother to her with how she described him. Personally, I doubted that was his real name. I had tried to sneak a glance at her laptop, whenever she had a tab to their chats open, but every time she would close the window... or throw the nearest eraser or pen at me until I left the room.

For someone who was usually such a cheerful optimistic, she had scary good aim.

"I really want to help you, Elaine, I do," Hope informed me. "But I can't do too much. You have to do this assignment by yourself."

"I know. I know! But it's... eugh! Evil!" I slammed my hands on the desk, and threw my head back with a groan. "Oh-whoa!" Hope jumped from her spot behind me, and grabbed my chair before I could fall backwards.

"Careful!" R-right. I almost forgot about that. My chair's feet, two long boards, mimicked a badly made rocking chair. I could recline it if I wanted to, but any excessive movement would make me flip. Flip, and smash my head against my bed right behind me.

"Sorry," I said, steadying the seat. Letting my heart slow down, I looked out my window. The sun was already gone, and the spotlights of the busy street shone in through the dirty glass. "You can go now, Hope. I-I'll try and figure this out. If not now, I'll go to the learning center tomorrow morning."

"Are you sure?" I nodded, although it didn't seem to fully convince her. "Okay then. Well, have a good evening, Elaine. You know where to find me if you need my help." She walked to the door, opening it up. Casting a final smile, Hope closed the door and left me to my internal rage.

"Oh... this sucks." I turned back to the screen, its bright light bathing me in an artificial glow. "How am I supposed to figure this out?" I pinched my nose, and closed my eyes with a sigh. "Think, Milton. Think. Who knows about programming and codes?"

A ding. The same sound that my email account made when a new message came in echoed throughout my small bedroom. "What?" I looked from my code tab to the mail icon at the bottom and saw that, indeed, a number was shown there. Taking my mouse, I went to click the envelope.

And there it was. An email. __But... what is going on with it?__ There was no returning email, or... well, any other details to it. Just a message, with a line of strange jumbled letters at the top. "Okay...?" Normally, one would just delete it and send it to spam. Especially now, since this was a brand new computer after my old one died. __But... I'm not normal.__

So I clicked.

And then my laptop crashed.

"Wha-oh, come on!" I scowled at the screen, watching it go through the motions of restarting. Was that a joke? A virus!? __Oh crud! Mom and dad are gonna kill me!__ Once the login page appeared, I quickly threw in my pin code and returned to the main screen. All of my tabs were there, just as I had left them, but there was something... else.

In the farthest right corner of my screen, was a black box with a yellow triangle inside it. "Huh? Was that...?" Was that email the cause of it?

Now the biggest thing was this; should I delete the icon, or should I see what it was? I didn't know what could happen if I removed it. From that email-message... thing, there was something clearly strange happening. If I clicked it, something else could happen that I would regret. Either way, there was something bad about to happen.

But, the curiosity of mine once again won, and I clicked it. Seeing that no matter what, something was going to happen, it would be wise to understand its meaning. Upon clicking it, a black rectangular text box appeared at the bottom of the screen, with a yellow flashing line showing where the text would appear. It blinked on and off for a moment, until letters began to appear.

 ** **Ah ha Ha ha ha! Wow, about time someone finally clicked the link! Nice to meet you, Elaine!****

"Uh... what?" This... thing, this program, knew my name. Did-was it reading my files? I-I could've sworn my security would've caught that. __Maybe it's like that Doki Doki game.__ "But still, how is it-?"

 ** **Aw, you seem confused.**** _And it's hearing my voice!?_ What was this thing? Was it using my speaker system to hear my words, or was it using the camera to see me? __Paranoia. Paranoia, everywhere.__ ** **Don't fret, kid. I'm not hear to hurt you. Just wanna chat, that's all.****

"Who... what are you?" I leaned forward in my chair, staring at the yellow text.

 ** **I'm William Cypher!**** _ _Wait, what?__ Did-did it mean Bill Cipher? Like, that villain from Gravity Falls that ended years ago?

I knew that show very well. I got into it close to when it ended, but I didn't watch the finale when it first aired. I joined the fandom at a later date, around the time when one of my other favorite cartoon shows had ended. I took my time in starting at the beginning, watching the shorts, researching codes and any information I could find to really immerse myself into its world. However, I grew out of it, as one does.

But there I was, with some sort of AI calling itself the main villain. "You mean... Bill Cipher? Like, with an I?"

 ** **Close. My creator based me off him. Though, I am much more impressive.**** _And modest too._ The personality seemed to be there, and it did refer to itself as having a creator. ****You can call me Bill is you want to, but there is no I there. It's Y.****

"Okay, okay." I sank back into my chair, looking around my room before focusing back on the computer. "I think this has gone on long enough."

 ** **What do you mean, long enough?**** The AI cut in. ****You can't dismiss me so easily, kid. You opened the link, okay? You signed yourself over to me the moment you did that. I won't be going away just like that.****

I grabbed my mouse, and moved towards the icon on the monitor's main screen. Signed myself over? How in character was this thing? The AI made it sound like I made a deal with it! "Oh, so that's how you wanna play, huh? Well then, farewell, bug." The monitor's image seemed to tremble, and the text box increased instantly to fill the entire screen. Instead of the bright yellow font, a red that could mimic blood appeared instead. The text was choppy, as if it was being sliced into the box with a knife.

 ** **WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BUG, FLESHBAG?****

Blue screen.

The glitch went and gave me a blue screen.

I stared at the monitor, to my laptop closed on the side with the charge cord still plugged in, to the screen again. __H... how did it...?__ "... ah, come on! I was almost done my assignment!"

* * *

 ** **There you go! And now, the last chapter in our poll: Elaine joins Ford in travelling across the multiverse. I am really excited for that one.****

 ** **Chapters 10-39 have now been fully revised, and have now been posted. Much more detail, a few hints to scenes to the future... I loved this. And I love how fast this process is going. It's slowed down though, with school returning and midterms approaching. I have just reached 49, and I should have the sequel ready to go in October. It's already written up, but I won't post it until GFA is completed.****

 ** **Also, Analyzing Gravity Falls has been revised too. Figured having it flow more smoothly between GFA and its sequel, and correcting the tenses was a must.****

 ** **So for now, I bid you all farewell until next time!****

 ** **Angel****


	9. How to Survive the Multiverse

**Disclaimer: I figured it was time for another chapter. School's driving me insane, and a random uploading schedule helps with stress.**

 **ponystoriesandothers: Well, if you've checked out the revised HOPE, then you can see that reference in the epilogue too.**

 **Lunar Moon Butterfly: Can't really do that for a number of reasons, such as Hope has no need for searching up Gail, and that Gail doesn't have a way of getting to her. Besides, why would she want to bring Elaine back?**

 **Cynder: I was curious, when I saw this wasn't your profile replying. Um... I think you meant The Lion GuardIAN. Lion Guard was a Disney Junior cartoon. I told Hourglass about your message too, by the way. Updates should be faster soon, but I have six-count them-six courses right now. One will end soon, as it's an orientation thing, but there's midterms and projects coming I have to deal with. However, GFA's sequel should be up in October. I really mean it this time.**

 **Hourglass Cipher: Same multiverse? They exist in the same dimension!**

 **Luckygurrl12: Different yet the same. Not everything's is the same as you had last read it. A lot of material has either been taken out, added, or changed entirely. I've just finished 40-59, and will be moving on to the next grouping.**

 **RainbowCelin: I am. School is... stressful, and I have many midterms and assignments going on. I'm working, and GFA should be done this month. Thanks for being patient!**

 **Compared to the other few times where her waking up was quite similar, we're mixing things up this time around. Also, while I never made this clear in other chapters and in the original GFA, Elaine dimension-hops with no shoes on.** **And, the outfit she has is the same she awoke in in the real story, and every other beginning in this collection too.**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

"Well, this sucks."

Okay, so I had experienced a lot in my life. But I'd like to think it was all normal, and nothing overly drastic. This, well... how exactly would one call waking up in some creepy slump of an alien city? _Sucks, that's what._

My shorts and tank top were covered in mud, with scratches, burns, and various other injuries over me to create a horrible image that it'd be best not to mentally recreated, all soaking wet from having woken up in a puddle behind a dumpster in an alley. What the-why? Why there of all places? How on earth did I end up in some weird world like this anyway, suck in a spot where anyone with undesirable ideals could find me? _What's worse is the severe lack of proper footwear. My feet are so sore..._

It wasn't my world, that's for certain. The instant I crept around the bin, I had ducked back around. Aliens, all with light blue skin, antennas, and bright yellow-green eyes wandered about. Occasionally, I'd see visiting aliens of various species. The few with large fangs and muscles sent me cowering further. That is, until I spotted the blanket.

It was torn in several places, and frayed around the edges with some dark stain that... might have been blood. But it provided me cover, and that was enough for me. Taking it, I wrapped it around myself and made sure my head was completely covered. Satisfied, I took a breath... and entered the world I found myself in.

Which was why I was now camping out in some shady bar, still hiding myself, while drinking a glass of water the waitress gave me.

Had to make sure it wasn't drugged, which it wasn't. She seemed to understand my need to hide, even though she couldn't see my face. All she gave me was a sad look of pity, and gave it to me without another word. Made sense. I doubted she could speak English.

Swirling the ice in the glass, I listened to the conversations around me, hoping to hear anything that would help me. Nothing. It was all strange sounds lots of words that blended into each other. "Perfect," I muttered, and leaned against the wall beside me in my booth. "Just... perf-"

The door swung open, and my head snapped upwards. This person was... odd. They were dressed mostly all in dark clothing, with a tattered cape and grey scarf covering their face. Their heavy boots thumped across the wooden floorboards, and the patrons of the bar quieted down to watch them sit at a table not that far from where I was. A set of goggles covered their eyes, leaving the entire appearance a mask. Hidden. Just like I was.

The same waitress who dealt with me approached them, and I watched as they had a conversation. Once she seemed to get the order, she went into the back. The instant the door stopped swaying, the room immediately went silent. Not like the hush from before. This was... scarier. One of the men, a red alien with green eyes and a muscular build approached them, and held up a sheet of paper. I couldn't read it, but I did see the newcomer tense slightly.

There was more silence... and then all heck broke loose.

Fists were flying, bottles were thrown, and I threw myself under the table to hide. The stranger had pulled out some kind of laser gun from their coat, and fired it at the attackers. They scattered, having no weapons of their own, and ran out the door. A few unlucky ones, like the red alien who tried to attack first, were launched out the window. The stranger's shoulders heaved up and down, and looked around at the carnage they created.

 _Is it... done?_ I inched towards the edge of the table, and their head snapped in my direction. I quickly shrunk back, watching their boots walk towards me and kneel down to my level. He reached forward, and as I was too stunned to react, he lowered the blanket from my head. I could hear a sharp inhale, and they retracted their hand and reached for their scarf and goggles.

"Wh... what?" So, um... I was understanding the theory of the multiverse as I was there for just a few days. Aliens didn't exist in my world. If they did, we must've had better luck than what we had now. But other universes made more sense. And now... staring into the face of a young Stanford Pines from a cartoon show in my own world, I realized how accurate that idea was. _Holy c-I'm in front of the author of the journals. I... I..._ I think my brain broke, that's what.

"What are doing in a place like this?" He asked. He didn't sound angry, but confused, mirroring my own emotions. "Do you have any idea how far away from the nearest Earth dimension is?"

"N... not really. Please, I-I don't know where I am, and-they're coming back!" We could hear sirens outside of the bar. Even with how sketchy this city was, there still was law enforcement. Ford looked from the door, then back to me. He seemed to be debating his next course of action, but ultimately, with an annoyed groan, he reached under the table and pulled me out.

"Come on. Best not to let the law enforcement find another human here in this mess." His hand wrapped around my wrist, and dragged me towards the kitchen. The few staff watched us in stunned shock as we ran through, and I caught a glimpse of the woman from earlier giving me the briefest of smiles. As if she knew I was going to be fine with him. Exiting out the other side, we took off through a maze of alleys. Ford's head snapped in various directions, listening for something.

Not sure what though. All I could hear was shouting and footsteps starting to get nearer. "Where is it?" He muttered, taking a few more seconds before breathing a sigh of relief. _Did he find it?_ With renewed vigor, he ran towards a side hallway where a boarded up door stood, a foot off the ground due to cracked rock steps. He pulled one of the boards upwards, just enough to let us pass through.

Once we were inside, he lowered it, and moved to the side wall. Following his example, I got out of the way from the outside light. The aliens rushed past outside, but besides the shining of a flashlight through the door, nothing gave way of our hiding place. Ford finally seemed to relax, continued forward in the abandoned brick warehouse. I paused to join him, sparing one last look at the light before jogging to catch up. The cool cement floor was a relief on my soles, having been forced to walk on small rocks for so long. "... th... thank you, sir," I finally responded. Ford didn't look back at me, but I figured he must have been listening. "Where are we, exactly?"

"No dimension important," came the blunt reply. "Normal society, exception having advanced weaponry. You just happened to land in one of the rougher areas of this planet." Ford stopped for a moment, and finally took the time to look me over. His eyes lingered on my bloodied arms, and I could see a trace of concern in them. "You need to get those treated. I am not sure how you've been on your feet for so long, but not doing anything soon, you will surely die from blood loss or infection."

Well... that wasn't a pleasant thing to hear. "Hard to do that when you're trying to hide," I commented. "What do you suppose I d... do?"

Farther ahead of him, in the middle of the room... was a rip. A rip that reminded me a lot of what was behind one Bill Cipher when he visited Ford's mind way in the beginning. No evil laughter though, and instead of the red magic outlining it, this was a silvery color, with strands of space fabric holding it up. "What the-?"

"A wormhole. It's the only way to travel across dimensions if you're not one of the lucky ones to wield a pair of dimensional scissors. They're hard to find, but with a good ear you can track them down." He gave a brief smile in amusement, and tugged down his scarf enough for me to see a collar around his neck. "Also, possessing an interdimensional communicator that allows one to speak every language in the multiverse and detect frequencies such as the one a wormhole creates does help. It's how I came to this dimension." He moved closer to it, and adjusted the case on his back. "Which one are you from?"

"Earth, but... a world where everything made sense. No magic, or advanced technology." _A world where you're a cartoon character._ "Why do you ask?" Ford didn't respond again, and I could almost see a war raging inside his head. "Sir?"

"Stanford Pines." He turned around, giving me his name instead of properly telling me to stop calling him sir. "Are you coming with, or not?" He gestured to the tear in space and time, which itself created a faint gust of air, blowing the dust and dirt along the floor. Going with him? That was... dangerous. If anything I knew from the show compared to this, then I'd be either on my way home without a problem, or joining him on his mission to fight Bill Cipher, one of the most powerful beings alive in any dimension.

 _Well..._ I shrugged, and moved to stand beside him, hands in my pockets under the blanket. "It's not like there's any more for me in this world. Okay, Stanford. But, uh... is it safe?"

"As long as you don't try breathing while going through it, and make sure to bend your knees upon exiting, you'll be fine." He pulled his scarf back over his face, and put the large goggles over his crackled glasses. In the moments I did see his face, I saw someone who, despite looking like he was in his early thirties, had already seen so much. As if he had lived several lives already. "This would be the point where you would offer me your name."

I smiled at the little harshness in his voice, but I also knew he was happy to see another human stuck in a situation a little similar to his. After all, it must have been lonely jumping across worlds. "Hmm." The crackling of energy filled the quiet, besides our voices, showing that in the next few minutes, I'd be hurling myself deeper into the unknown with a man I just met. _Hey, I already messed up the moment I woke up here. What's wrong with going the extra mile?_ "Heh. It's Elaine. Elaine Milton." _And it's nice to meet you, Ford._

* * *

 **And that's that.**

 **I have posted all chapters I hope to do for the anthology. Now, we get into the really fun stuff. Now... we vote. Relating to every chapter you've read, minus the deleted scene of Weirdmageddon with Pyronica and the alternate ending to the battle, I want to know which ones you want to see more of. The ones with the most votes I'll carry on to a point I deem worth making a decent ending.**

 **Out of 9 chapters, that means 7 you get to pick from. I won't continue all of them, as I think 3 or 4 would be enough. Which means it's up to you to decide what you want to see more of.**

 **40-59 are up. The next grouping of GFA I'm working on is Weirdmageddon. Trust me, that's gonna be toned down. Well, not all of it, but I am going to try and dial back certain things, while improving on a lot of other material.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Angel**


	10. Where My Demons Hide Part 2

**Disclaimer: Okay. GFA revisions are almost done. 70-75 are still being dealt with, but everything else is up. Also, same as the sequel! Woo! GFA 2!**

 **And... here are the stories we are continuing! Angel Elaine, Elaine ending up in the beginning with Bill, Elaine in the Nightmare Realm when things were already picking up steam, and Elaine in the past with a younger Ford and Stan. These are the four stories we'll be seeing more of, posted in a specific order at a random basis!**

 **PoisonCupcake101: I'll keep that idea in mind. Great idea!**

 **RainbowCelin: Um, Rainbow? Chapter 2 was a deleted scene from GFA. It's a little hard to go any further there.**

 **Lunar Moon Butterfly: Thanks!**

 **jg2016: Oddly enough, I shouldn't be surprised to see questions about the story in here. Yes, Pacifica will be much more involved. While I did succeed in giving her a larger role in GFA than the show, we need to see more development there.**

 **Contra: Got it! Thanks!**

 **Kidbuussister: I'll mark that down for the list.**

 **Luckygurrl12: Got it! Thanks!**

 **By the way, thanks to PoisonCupcake101, I now have a building idea on what would happen if Bill won in the end, and Weirdmageddon went global. If anyone's interested in that, let me know. And, for a final note, chapter length in the now-continuing stories will... vary. Not excessively long in length, but they all exist in a floating timeline. Skips are bound to happen, so size variation will be a thing.**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

I stared wearily through half-lidded eyes, gazing around the crater I had taken shelter in. The odd ensemble of aliens were huddled around a strange, glittering purple fire at the far back. To my left, a teal warthog creature tended to my wounds, making sure not to damage them any further with the dirty environment. My lack of sleeves allowed easy access to the torn skin on my arms, and from how I slightly bent in an effort to sit up, there were bandages around my torso too.

 _Probably would be really embarrassed, if I knew I'd probably have died otherwise._ Still, it didn't seem as if the upper part of me was that bad. It was more-or-less my stomach and ribs. But still... there was blood. Red stains, clear as day through the gauze that covered me. _If I wasn't so tired, I'd probably have started screaming again from the sight and pain._ "There you are, that should do it." His voice was rough, and slightly nasally. Blinking as he looked back at my face, noting a long scar running over his right eye, I gave an appreciative smile.

"Th... thanks." My throat hurt, but it should return to normal soon. _Shame they're trying to converse their water. I hope it isn't hard to find it._ "I am sorry to intrude, really. I didn't know anyone else was in here."

"Aye, that's to be expected." The leader of the odd group, a hairy mixture of a guinea pig and a pirate nodded to himself. "No one ever expects to wind up in the Nightmare Realm at first. Shame yer first demon had ta be that one though. He be given us our fair share of trouble for months. Tell me lass, how did ye wind up in a place like this?"

"You... said a wormhole brought you here, right? Maybe that was the same for me." I looked down at my lap in thought, before shaking my head. "No, no. That wouldn't make sense. I was in bed, I... think, before I woke up here." The alien beside me moved back to the fire, and I allowed my head to rest back against the rocky wall, directing my eyes towards the hole.

That was... a monster, that chased after me. A demon. One of Bill's, possibly. With no matter how much I didn't want to believe it, I had to accept the fact I had arrived in the crawlspace of the multiverse. A world that I only thought existed in Gravity Falls. I-I might have been fine with it, actually. If I had wound up in a different dimension other than this one, than maybe I wouldn't be as panicked as I was now. B-but I was panicked! How could I not be?

Bill Cipher... was dangerous, and in the land I found myself, in, the threat was very real. If say... I was in Gravity Falls, then the most I could worry about was him never leaving me be. He could drive me insane if he so pleased. Though, I doubted he'd find any interest in me. But there, in the Nightmare Realm... this was his playing field. There, he had a physical form, and could change and manipulate matter if he so pleased.

 _Maybe not everything... the meteor I'm in is still in one piece._ I was going to be there for a while, no doubt about it. So... it was best to think of some key points.

For one, I was in this world before Ford returned... I think. If he had appeared, the asteroid miners I was staying with would have hinted at his brief arrival before entering the portal back to Gravity Falls. The second was that I had no idea how to get home. Sure, I could get lucky and find a wormhole and throw myself into it, but that was just as a bad idea as remaining there. Three... I was stuck for the long haul.

I was going to need to survive. It would be rough, and while I had no idea how I'd handle food and water... I could do this. _I'll do this, and I'll get back._ Gail... I'd get back to her, no matter what. "Excuse me, sir... how long do you think I'll be here for?"

The leader of the group turned back to me, adjusting his metallic peg leg. His gruff expression softened, and he gave a deep sigh. "Lass, it'd be hard for ye to find yer way out of here. Even if ye find a wormhole, it'd be by chance ye'd end up somewhere safe, and even less where ye want to go." He glanced over at the other three aliens, before returning to my uneasy and stressed form. "Ye be welcome to hide here with me crew, but it won't be for free, y'hear? Ye need to be pulling yer own weight."

I gave a hard look, understanding the meaning of his words. "Nothing for free. I get it." I rolled onto my hands and knees, and crawled over to the fire. The dimension was cool, outside of this hideout. Not freezing, but not entirely warm. "I'll help find any source of food; small creatures that end up here, any plants."

"Exactly," he nodded. "And me name be Scruff, lass. No need to be callin' me sir." Scruff? Well, it did suit his appearance. Not only that, but I had to be prepared for certain customs to be different, since I was around a quartet of beings that were nowhere near human.

"Okay, Scruff. I'm Elaine, and I swear I'll work as hard as I can." Even if I was a bruised and bloodied mess. I would work, and I would heal, and I would find a way to leave this place and return home. That's my end goal, and I would do my best to reach it. _Even if... even if I have to go up against one of the monsters._

* * *

 **I forgot to mention this, but since 71 is being edited in GFA, some information in the Weirdmageddon chapter here will be different. And... there might be mistakes there that I never caught, since it was mostly copy-paste. If you see any, can you let me know?**

 **Next chapter, we go back to the angel version of Elaine and Bill. Stay tuned, folks!**

 **Angel**


	11. A Match with a Cipher Part 2

**Disclaimer: Well, the winter break is almost over, I finished a story I started in 2017, and the GFA sequel is going along nicely. And of course, I finally got time to post here... this is a good time.**

 **ultima-owner: It does, doesn't it?**

 **Luckygurrl12: Especially in season one, are there new parts. The first 10 or so chapters are really different. A fair amount of Bill's and Elaine's interactions have changed in season 2, and 70-75 are finally updated.**

 **CureCaligraphy (five times): Gail is pretty sweet. Elaine is lucky to have her as a sister. And yes, we know who Sam is. I love crossing my stories over, and since HOPE already has Hope's dimension and Sans' dimension interacting, I just had to do this.**

"Speaking"

 _Thinking_

* * *

"You two... I swear, you and your sister are the absolute worst danger-magnets in the multiverse." Dipper squirmed under my heated gaze, clutching the journal tighter to his chest. _That demon... he's gonna get it this time._ Possessing my kid? S-sure. Sure, demons were known to do that. But under an angel's watch? Under my watch!? When everyone higher up knows how ridiculous my decision to take Dipper under my wing was possibly suicidal? Bill was not going to get away with it.

"I know," he mumbled, head dropping a little. "I should've known better than to trust him, especially after what you told us about him last time."

I did not fully explain the demon's past, as that went against several over rules we followed, but I did stress that Bill was not to be trusted. Never, no matter what. Dipper was smart though, and while he had messed up this time, it did not amount to what Ford had accomplished. Back to the matter at hand, I paced back and forth, letting my white dress shoes click against the dusty floorboards. "He's determined that he won't let you, or Mabel, stop his plans. Dipper, it's clear he's planning something huge. Something, that... it will threaten everyone, and everything you hold dear."

He straightened up, resting the journal beside him. The Pines boy had written a lot in there over the course of the summer. Did he write of me? Pfft, obviously. Only once, when I finally made my presence known to him after they secured the Shack back from the Gleeful child. I had woken him up in the middle of the night, while his twin slept soundly across the room. Stunned, he was, and confused. Dipper had so many questions, and I could only answer them vaguely.

 _Really, how often was it that you got to see a guardian angel? And one with my wing color at that?_ "So... I'm in danger then." I nodded at his summary of my words. "Me, and everyone else in this town."

"Possibly the rest of reality too, but Gravity Falls will be struck down first. In a lot of Earth dimensions, this one is pretty high in magic and supernatural stuff." I didn't know that for certain. It was a comment Cipher had mentioned weeks ago. _Gotta admit, some of what he says is a little interesting._ "Onto another matter. How are you feeling, anyway?"

Dipper was thankful for the change in topic, and gripped a bandaged hand. Speckles of red decorated the white cloth, where the possessed boy jammed his arm inside the utensil drawer. Forks were stabbed in the skin, which he happily pulled out with such a manic grin it sent chills down my spine. Bill knew I was there, and maybe he was doing it for his own twisted thrills or to mock me for not being able to properly watch over Dipper, but whatever the reason, he got the right reaction from the both of us. Both, meaning Dipper and myself.

He was booted into the Mindscape, and I had to personally guide him to the theater to hunt down the triangular demon to get his corporeal form back. Guardian angels existed in the mental state, and in the state the child lived in. What a shock it was when I found him just seconds after the deal was made, hand through his torso and feeling the lack of any organs. Living, yet not living at all. I reacted in a very similar way when I became an angel, although... my memory of that-of the few years of adjusting-was vague.

But the reason why I was just seconds off-just missing this horrible disaster-was because of him and Mabel fighting. This time, over his obsession with the laptop and how it was affecting him over the past week. I was supposed to make him behave nicely. Make him a good person. However, with how the summer was going so far, I was much more focused on keeping him alive and in one piece. _Why couldn't I have been assigned to him before he arrived to Gravity Falls?_

"Sore. I have a bit of a headache, and my hand hurts. I'm just glad Mabel stopped him before anything else happened." He smiled, and I froze as his hand wrapped around my own, stopping me in my pacing. "Thanks, Elaine."

Guardian angels never did physical contact unless we couldn't help it. Bill liked breaking my personal bubble, and getting reactions out of it. I had never expected him, a human, to reach out. To... try and calm me down. Someone who was supposed to protect him. "... no problem, kid." I moved to his side, and sat down next to him on the window seat. My wings stretched up, blocking the triangle in the glass. _Don't need him watching._

"What are you going to do next? He's not going to be happy this didn't go the way he planned." What, indeed. I tapped a finger to my chin, eyes closed in deep thought. _I did say I wasn't going to make things easy for him, in his plans. He already stepped over that line, personally attacking Dipper and Mabel._

"It's very simple, Dipper." I lowered my hand, and fully faced him. My halo lit up my almost murderous expression, and I could only wonder right now if my wings had darkened from the past few hours. _Never a fallen angel. As long as I can keep my kid safe, then I will not fall. I won't fail._ "We prepare for a fight."

* * *

 **So, unfortunately, I'll be ending the anthology series. This collection of small stories was to help fill the void between the first and the second big story. Now that GFA 2 is posted, and the next school term is starting, I don't have time to focus on this anymore. I might post here again once the sequel ends, but for now, this side project is over.**

 **Also, while it is a little delayed, happy new year! Until next time!**

 **Angel**


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